136-614: The Valtellina Redoubt or, officially, in Italian : Ridotto Alpino Repubblicano ( transl. Republican Alpine Redoubt ) or RAR , was the intended final stronghold or redoubt of the Italian fascist regime of Benito Mussolini at the end of World War II in Europe . It was to be based in the Valtellina , a valley in the Italian Alps , which had the natural protection afforded by
272-541: A symbol that represents the group's motto or identity. The Pasquali are allegorical floats with a religious theme, prepared during the winter by the various districts of Bormio (Buglio, Combo, Dossiglio, Dossorovina and Maggiore) for Easter (Pasqua meaning Easter in Italian). On Easter day, the Pasquali are carried on the shoulders of the boys and are accompanied by a band, folk groups, women, seniors, and children who embellish
408-516: A bearded and joyful man dressed as a mountaineer, and Lean Lent, a thin woman dressed in a humble way, with a dark handkerchief on her head and an empty basket on her arm, represent the transition from the glories of Carnival to Lenten fasts. They are accompanied by the Paralytic, the Bear Handler, a funny shepherd who dances and rolls on the ground named Toni, an old man with a butt covered with Nutella,
544-414: A club to celebrate and travel through the streets of the town in a car from which the flag decorated with the symbol of the group waves. On New Year's Eve, amid fireworks and the noise of whistles, cowbells , motorcycles, and tractors , they entrust the flag to conscripts one year younger, after having it blessed in church. Each group chooses different coloured sweatshirts and decorates the tricolour with
680-451: A court named 'clerical overseers' that between 1618 and 1620 handed down a number of convictions (often in absentia ) against Catholics in the Leagues and Valtellina. This included the arresting under false pretences and torturing to death of the (catholic) arch-priest Nicolò Rusca of Sondrio . This and similar harsh judgments of the anti-Habsburg Thusis court led to a conspiracy to drive
816-587: A gasoline station in the Piazzale Loreto in Milan. In the meantime, in the face of the rapid Allied advance across northern Italy, Axis resistance collapsed and there was no "last stand" as the Germans with their fascist allies surrendered or retreated. Allied troops entered Bologna on 21 April, Verona on 25/26 April, Genoa and Milan on 27 April, Venice on 29 April, Turin on 1 May and Trieste on 2 May. On 29 April
952-550: A huge number of civil servants and soldiers recruited from all over the country introduced many more words and idioms from their home languages— ciao is derived from the Venetian word s-cia[v]o ("slave", that is "your servant"), panettone comes from the Lombard word panetton , etc. Only 2.5% of Italy's population could speak the Italian standardized language properly when
1088-500: A hunchbacked mountaineer whose hump is filled with chestnut urchins, and Bernarda, a man disguised as a baby put in a pannier supported by a fake old woman, and accompanied by another man dressed as a farmer). During the Carnival period, manzòli or manzòla , white flour and buckwheat pancakes mixed with slices of cheese and cut into the shape of a calf were eaten to propitiate the abundance of livestock parts. In Bormio , during
1224-453: A kind of rite of passage to adulthood. Today is simply the celebration of the coming of age . The duration of the celebration varied from town to town: in Grosio the conscription could last up to ten days, during which the boys and girls met in bars, taverns, or in places specially set up for the purpose. The conscripts had the task of embroidering on the tricolour flag the symbol and possibly
1360-464: A little over one million people in the United States speak Italian at home. Nevertheless, an Italian language media market does exist in the country. In Canada, Italian is the second most spoken non-official language when varieties of Chinese are not grouped together, with 375,645 claiming Italian as their mother tongue in 2016. Italian immigrants to South America have also brought a presence of
1496-657: A local vernacular. These dialects, as they are commonly referred to, evolved from Vulgar Latin over the course of centuries, unaffected by formal standards and teachings. They are not in any sense "dialects" of standard Italian, which itself started off as one of these local tongues, but sister languages of Italian. Mutual intelligibility with Italian varies widely, as it does with Romance languages in general. The Romance languages of Italy can differ greatly from Italian at all levels ( phonology , morphology , syntax , lexicon , pragmatics ) and are classified typologically as distinct languages. The standard Italian language has
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#17330850097021632-493: A maximum of 8 tonnes/ha. While the ageing requirements are the same as the DOC, the minimum alcohol level for the DOCG wine is 12%. The best-known villages for red wines are: Grumello , Sassella , Inferno , Valgella , and Maroggia . The village names are normally indicated on the label. Additionally, there is an Amarone style DOCG wine called Sforzato (Sfursat). In the lower part of
1768-486: A number of reports from eyewitnesses at the time demonstrate that little had been done on the project after the winter of 1944/1945. In March 1945, Giorgio Pini , Fascist under-secretary of the interior, inspected the work and reported that there had been little progress and that the fascists in the Valtellina were in a perilous position. His impression was that 3,000 fascists in the valley were surrounded by 3,000 partisans in
1904-543: A peaceful solution with the partisans. Others thought the proposal was impractical. The Minister of Defence, Marshal Graziani , took the view that because the proposal came from Pavolini, who was closely associated with the Republican Fascist Party , it would compromise the "apolitical" traditions of the army, and opposed it on that basis. The involvement of the Black Brigades in the project made it unpopular with
2040-645: A poetic and literary origin in the works of Tuscan writers of the 12th century, and, although the grammar and core lexicon are basically unchanged from those used in Florence in the 13th century, the modern standard of the language was largely shaped by relatively recent events. However, Romance vernacular as language spoken in the Italian Peninsula has a longer history. In fact, the earliest surviving texts that can definitely be called vernacular (as distinct from its predecessor Vulgar Latin) are legal formulae known as
2176-417: A renewed interest in linguistics in the 16th century, sparked a debate that raged throughout Italy concerning the criteria that should govern the establishment of a modern Italian literary and spoken language. This discussion, known as questione della lingua (i.e., the problem of the language ), ran through the Italian culture until the end of the 19th century, often linked to the political debate on achieving
2312-509: A result. Starting in late medieval times in much of Europe and the Mediterranean, Latin was replaced as the primary commercial language by languages of Italy, especially Tuscan and Venetian. These varieties were consolidated during the Renaissance with the strength of Italy and the rise of humanism and the arts . Italy came to enjoy increasing artistic prestige within Europe. A mark of
2448-611: A seven-vowel system, consisting of /a, ɛ, e, i, ɔ, o, u/ , as well as 23 consonants. Compared with most other Romance languages, Italian phonology is conservative, preserving many words nearly unchanged from Vulgar Latin . Some examples: Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline ; Romansh : Vuclina ( listen ) ; Lombard : Valtelina or Valtulina ; German: Veltlin ; Italian : Valtellina )
2584-474: A single language is that they have evolved so that they are no longer mutually intelligible ; this diagnostic is effective if mutual intelligibility is minimal or absent (e.g. in Romance, Romanian and Portuguese), but it fails in cases such as Spanish-Portuguese or Spanish-Italian, as educated native speakers of either pairing can understand each other well if they choose to do so; however, the level of intelligibility
2720-504: A united Italian state. Renaissance scholars divided into three main factions: A fourth faction claimed that the best Italian was the one that the papal court adopted, which was a mixture of the Tuscan and Roman dialects. Eventually, Bembo's ideas prevailed, and the foundation of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence (1582–1583), the official legislative body of the Italian language, led to
2856-595: A whole was divided over it. Only minimal preparatory work was carried out to establish the area as a stronghold and, as a result, when the Allied victory in Italy approached in April 1945, the Valtellina was not ready to be used by the fascists as a redoubt. At the end of April, resistance to the Allied advance quickly collapsed without any major "last stand", and the war in Italy soon ended with
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#17330850097022992-427: Is 89% with French, 87% with Catalan , 85% with Sardinian , 82% with Spanish, 80% with Portuguese , 78% with Ladin , 77% with Romanian . Estimates may differ according to sources. One study, analyzing the degree of differentiation of Romance languages in comparison to Latin (comparing phonology , inflection , discourse , syntax , vocabulary , and intonation ), estimated that distance between Italian and Latin
3128-509: Is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski centre , hot spring spas, bresaola , cheeses (in particular Bitto , named after the river Bitto) and wines. In past centuries it was a key Alpine pass between northern Italy and Germany. The control of the Valtellina was much sought after, particularly during the Thirty Years' War as it
3264-729: Is also spoken by a minority in Monaco and France, especially in the southeastern part of the country. Italian was the official language in Savoy and in Nice until 1860, when they were both annexed by France under the Treaty of Turin , a development that triggered the " Niçard exodus ", or the emigration of a quarter of the Niçard Italians to Italy, and the Niçard Vespers . Giuseppe Garibaldi complained about
3400-424: Is called Carneval vegg ("Old Carnival"). In the past, it was customary for people to gather all together to dance, sing, eat and drink. Being an agricultural ritual that represents the death of winter and the beginning of summer, Carnival officially began on January 17 with the parade of the blessed cattle adorned with coloured ribbons. It included numerous bonfires , with which the paths were cleared to facilitate
3536-528: Is higher than that between Sardinian and Latin. In particular, its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian . As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Italian is the official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries' populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French; see Swiss Italian ), although its use there has moderately declined since
3672-455: Is markedly lower between Italian-Spanish, and considerably higher between the Iberian sister languages of Portuguese-Spanish. Speakers of this latter pair can communicate with one another with remarkable ease, each speaking to the other in his own native language without slang/jargon. Nevertheless, on the basis of accumulated differences in morphology, syntax, phonology, and to some extent lexicon, it
3808-498: Is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Some speakers of Italian are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties ) and a local language of Italy , most frequently the language spoken at home in their place of origin. Italian is a major language in Europe, being one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of
3944-410: Is not difficult to identify that for the Romance varieties of Italy, the first extant written evidence of languages that can no longer be considered Latin comes from the ninth and tenth centuries C.E. These written sources demonstrate certain vernacular characteristics and sometimes explicitly mention the use of the vernacular in Italy. Full literary manifestations of the vernacular began to surface around
4080-467: Is out from its den"). Both celebrated the end of winter and the imminent arrival of spring. The two customs involved walking around the town and inviting people to leave their houses under any pretext, like throwing a large piece of wood or a pot down the stairs. When people ran outside to check what had happened, they were greeted with the shout l'è foeu el sginer! or l'è foeu l'ors de la tana! Intraverser l'èn or intraverser l'ann (literally "to put
4216-473: Is the Alpine Redoubt? What does it consist of? Along the thirty-eight kilometres from the roadblock at Sondrio I saw only blocked up houses, deserted land, no concentration of troops, no fortifications. I knew also that our garrisons formerly existing along the highway...had been withdrawn to Sondrio. By April 1945, when the allies finally completed their victory in Italy, there were still no detailed plans for
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4352-626: Is the main working language of the Holy See , serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta . Italian has a significant use in musical terminology and opera with numerous Italian words referring to music that have become international terms taken into various languages worldwide. Almost all native Italian words end with vowels , and
4488-538: Is used, and the town of Chipilo near Puebla, Mexico; each continues to use a derived form of Venetian dating back to the 19th century. Other examples are Cocoliche , an Italian–Spanish pidgin once spoken in Argentina and especially in Buenos Aires , and Lunfardo . The Rioplatense Spanish dialect of Argentina and Uruguay today has thus been heavily influenced by both standard Italian and Italian regional languages as
4624-462: The Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) and 10% for the Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). Grapes are limited to a harvest yield of 12 tonnes per hectare. The finished wine must be aged for at least two years prior to release (three years if a Riserva bottling) with a minimum alcohol level of at least 11%. Yields for the DOCG wines are further restricted to
4760-501: The Il Globo (Australia) and the La gazzetta del Sud Africa (South Africa). Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language. In the 21st century, technology also allows for the continual spread of the Italian language, as people have new ways to learn how to speak, read, and write languages at their own pace and at any given time. For example,
4896-936: The La Voce del Popolo ( Croatia ), the Corriere d'Italia (Germany), the L'italoeuropeo (United Kingdom), the Passaparola ( Luxembourg ), the America Oggi (United States), the Corriere Canadese and the Corriere Italiano (Canada), the Il punto d'incontro (Mexico), the L'Italia del Popolo ( Argentina ), the Fanfulla (Brazil), the Gente d'Italia ( Uruguay ), the La Voce d'Italia ( Venezuela ),
5032-751: The Axis forces signing the Surrender of Caserta on 29 April 1945. With the fall of the Fascist regime in Italy in July 1943 following the Allied invasion of Sicily , Mussolini was deposed as dictator and placed under arrest. In September of that year, the Allies launched the invasion of mainland Italy from the south. In the same month, German special forces rescued Mussolini in the Gran Sasso raid and Hitler installed him as leader of
5168-672: The Gallo-Italic linguistic panorama of Northern Italy , the Italo-Dalmatian , Neapolitan and its related dialects were largely unaffected by the Franco- Occitan influences introduced to Italy mainly by bards from France during the Middle Ages, but after the Norman conquest of southern Italy , Sicily became the first Italian land to adopt Occitan lyric moods (and words) in poetry. Even in
5304-816: The Grisons ), Corsica , and Vatican City . It has official minority status in Croatia , Slovenian Istria , and the municipalities of Santa Tereza and Encantado in Brazil . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia . Italian is included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania , although Italian
5440-641: The Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire . Italian is the least divergent language from Latin , together with Sardinian (meaning that Italian and Sardinian are the most conservative Romance languages). Spoken by about 85 million people, including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy , San Marino , Switzerland ( Ticino and
5576-505: The Italian Social Republic , a German puppet state in the Axis -controlled northern half of the country, and based at the town of Salò near Lake Garda . By 1944, the "Salò Republic", as it came to be called, was threatened not only by the Allies advancing from the south but also internally by Italian anti-fascist partisans , in a brutal conflict that was to become known as the Italian civil war . Slowly fighting their way up
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5712-507: The Italian peninsula , the Allies took Rome and then Florence in the summer of 1944 and later that year they began advancing into northern Italy. With the final collapse of the German army's Gothic Line in April 1945, total defeat for the Salò Republic and its German protectors was imminent. In September 1944, Alessandro Pavolini proposed that the regime create an "Alpine stronghold",
5848-649: The Kingdom of Italy in the Dodecanese ). Italian is widely spoken in Malta , where nearly two-thirds of the population can speak it fluently (see Maltese Italian ). Italian served as Malta's official language until 1934, when it was abolished by the British colonial administration amid strong local opposition. Italian language in Slovenia is an officially recognized minority language in
5984-763: The Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia ), although the masses kept speaking primarily their local vernaculars. Italian was also one of the many recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire . Italy has always had a distinctive dialect for each city because the cities, until recently, were thought of as city-states . Those dialects now have considerable variety . As Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian . The most characteristic differences, for instance, between Roman Italian and Milanese Italian are syntactic gemination of initial consonants in some contexts and
6120-523: The Palio delle Contrade sees the inhabitants of the five districts of Bormio compete against each other, divided according to age, in downhill, cross-country, combined, and relay races. The cross-country race takes place through the streets of the town, covered with snow for the purpose. In Valtellina, wines are produced mainly from Chiavennasca (the local name of Nebbiolo grape variety ) with other minor varieties such as Rossola nera permitted up to 20% for
6256-539: The Placiti Cassinesi from the province of Benevento that date from 960 to 963, although the Veronese Riddle , probably from the 8th or early 9th century, contains a late form of Vulgar Latin that can be seen as a very early sample of a vernacular dialect of Italy. The Commodilla catacomb inscription is also a similar case. The Italian language has progressed through a long and slow process, which started after
6392-446: The Ridotto Alpino Repubblicano ("Republican Alpine Redoubt" or RAR ), to mount a last stand against the Allied advance. Pavolini was Fascist Party secretary and founder of the Black Brigades , the regime's paramilitary force and successor to the by then disbanded Blackshirts . The objective of making a last stand in an Alpine stronghold, according to Pavolini, would be to set a heroic example for later generations to follow and, after
6528-414: The Val Poschiavo , the valley in the Graubünden canton of Switzerland that descends into the Valtellina at Tirano , similar wines are produced – but under different regulations such as appellation and the allowance of sugar addition, or chaptalization . One of the most notable tourist attractions of the area is the Bernina Line ("Trenino Rosso", little red train) of the Rhaetian Railway , which links
6664-406: The Western Roman Empire's fall in the 5th century. The language that came to be thought of as Italian developed in central Tuscany and was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri , written in his native Florentine . Dante's epic poems, known collectively as the Commedia , to which another Tuscan poet Giovanni Boccaccio later affixed
6800-460: The gabinat most likely comes from Bavaria , Germany, where Christmas, New Year's Eve and Epiphany were indicated with the name Geb-nacht ( Gaben means "gifts" and Nacht means "night", therefore "night of gifts"): on the eve of these holidays, the poor young people sang in front of the doors of the wealthiest in the hope to receive a gift. On the first of March, throughout Valtellina and Valchiavenna , people used to go to ciamà l'erba ("call
6936-406: The 111 Italian lecturer sections belonging to foreign schools where Italian is taught as a language of culture. As of 2022, Australia had the highest number of students learning Italian in the world. This occurred because of support by the Italian community in Australia and the Italian Government and also because of successful educational reform efforts led by local governments in Australia. From
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#17330850097027072-458: The 13th century in the form of various religious texts and poetry. Although these are the first written records of Italian varieties separate from Latin, the spoken language had probably diverged long before the first written records appeared since those who were literate generally wrote in Latin even if they spoke other Romance varieties in person. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the use of Standard Italian became increasingly widespread and
7208-438: The 1970s. It is official both on the national level and on regional level in two cantons : Ticino and Grisons . In the latter canton, however, it is only spoken by a small minority, in the Italian Grisons . Ticino, which includes Lugano , the largest Italian-speaking city outside Italy, is the only canton where Italian is predominant. Italian is also used in administration and official documents in Vatican City . Italian
7344-437: The Blackshirts, our weapons and our government in a defensible area such as the province of Sondrio and part of Como would, it seems to me, be the most logical and worthwhile solution... On the other hand, our resistance in the Valtellina and around Adamello would protect the German flank in South Tyrol . From every point of view, it seems to me, the political and ideal advantage of our ally coincides with our own. Besides
7480-411: The German forces signed the Surrender of Caserta , which formally ended the war in Italy on 2 May 1945. Graziani, as Minister of Defence of the Italian Social Republic, surrendered to the Allies on 1 May. Italian language Italian ( italiano , pronounced [itaˈljaːno] , or lingua italiana , pronounced [ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna] ) is a Romance language of
7616-405: The Harlequins of the Company of Mat, with children escorting the Podestà. The conscription was originally a celebration on the occasion of the call to the draft: the tradition seems to have originated in the second half of the nineteenth century with the unification of Italy when young men were forced to serve a period in the Army. The feast of the conscripts of eighteen-year-olds was therefore
7752-417: The Italian dialects has declined in the modern era , as Italy unified under Standard Italian and continues to do so aided by mass media from newspapers to radio to television, diglossia is still frequently encountered in Italy and triglossia is not uncommon in emigrant communities among older speakers. Both situations normally involve some degree of code-switching and code-mixing . Notes: Italian has
7888-439: The Italian language into a lingua franca used not only among clerks, nobility, and functionaries in the Italian courts but also by the bourgeoisie . Italian literature's first modern novel, I promessi sposi ( The Betrothed ) by Alessandro Manzoni , further defined the standard by "rinsing" his Milanese "in the waters of the Arno " ( Florence 's river), as he states in the preface to his 1840 edition. After unification,
8024-497: The Mediterranean. The increasing political and cultural relevance of Florence during the periods of the rise of the Medici Bank , humanism , and the Renaissance made its dialect, or rather a refined version of it, a standard in the arts. The Renaissance era, known as il Rinascimento in Italian, was seen as a time of rebirth, which is the literal meaning of both renaissance (from French) and rinascimento (Italian). During this time, long-existing beliefs stemming from
8160-497: The Protestants out of the valley. The leader of the conspiracy, Giacomo Robustelli of the Planta family, had ties to Madrid, Rome and Paris. On the evening of 18/19 July 1620, a force of Valtellina rebels supported by Austrian and Italian troops marched into Tirano and began killing Protestants. When they finished in Tirano, they marched to Teglio , Sondrio and further down the valley killing every Protestant that they found. Between 500 and 600 people were killed on that night and in
8296-405: The Valtellina became part of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia , which was a constituent land of the Austrian Empire. In 1859 it came, together with Lombardy, to the Kingdom of Sardinia , and finally in 1861 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy . At the end of the 19th century, there was substantial migration out of the Valtellina for reasons of the prevailing economically depressed conditions of
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#17330850097028432-415: The Valtellina was a theatre of intense military and diplomatic struggle among France, the Habsburg powers and the local authorities which culminated in the Valtellina war of 1620–1626. Control over the routes through the Valtellina to the passes between Lombardy and the Danube watershed was at stake as it formed part of the so-called Spanish Road . The anti-Habsburg forces in the Three Leagues put together
8568-443: The Valtellina, three other areas were considered. Some in the fascist leadership favoured Val d'Aosta or even Trieste , the latter because its location had echoes of the 1919 Impresa di Fiume . Others preferred South Tyrol. As most of the Italian Alps was under German control and the partisans had taken the areas west of South Tyrol, the only area that potentially could be utilised was the Valtellina, an Alpine valley entered from
8704-415: The Valtellina. From 18 April 1945, Mussolini based himself in Milan. Over the following week, with the military situation deteriorating and total defeat imminent, he vacillated between a number of options including making a last stand in the Valtellina (to put into effect the RAR), fleeing to Switzerland, or attempting to negotiate a peaceful handover to the partisan leadership. On 25 April, Mussolini fled
8840-471: The advocacy of the project. The work that was completed is generally thought to have been minimal and was limited to the installation of barriers at the valley entrance, and the construction of an anti-tank ditch and some housing. Costa also sent some food stores, four cannons and 10 machine guns. Historian Pierre Milza wrote that some have argued that the Valtellina Redoubt was an illusory concept and merely propaganda with no substance. However, he believed it
8976-440: The area. Pavolini strongly advocated the Valtellina, and objected to the South Tyrol, in particular, because it was under German control. On the other hand, Rudolf Rahn , the German Ambassador, advised Mussolini against the Valtellina as he thought the proximity of Switzerland would encourage desertions amongst the troops. A number of ministers in the government opposed the whole concept. Some were moderates who favoured negotiating
9112-454: The bones of the medieval Italian poet, Dante brought to the Valtellina from Ravenna so that "the greatest symbol of Italianness" could be present at fascism's last stand. Graziani opposed the plan and the German commander present, Heinrich von Vietinghoff dismissed it on the basis that it was poorly planned and there was not enough time to develop it further. General Filippo Diamanti , the fascist military commander in Milan , also opposed
9248-444: The case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are careful not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages. The economic might and relatively advanced development of Tuscany at the time ( Late Middle Ages ) gave its language weight, although Venetian remained widespread in medieval Italian commercial life, and Ligurian (or Genoese) remained in use in maritime trade alongside
9384-487: The city and headed north. It is unclear whether his objective was to attempt to cross the Swiss border or to go to the Valtellina; if it were the latter, he left the city without the escort of troops earmarked to accompany him to the RAR. In any event, he was captured en route , near Lake Como, and executed by partisans on 28 April 1945, as was Pavolini. The corpses of Mussolini, Pavolini and other executed fascist leaders were then put on public display, hanging by their feet, at
9520-455: The colonial period. In the early 19th century, Eritrea was the country with the highest number of Italians abroad, and the Italian Eritreans grew from 4,000 during World War I to nearly 100,000 at the beginning of World War II. In Asmara there are two Italian schools, the Italian School of Asmara (Italian primary school with a Montessori department) and the Liceo Sperimentale "G. Marconi" (Italian international senior high school). Italian
9656-405: The country (some 0.42% of the total population). Their numbers dropped dramatically after World War II following the Istrian–Dalmatian exodus , which caused the emigration of between 230,000 and 350,000 Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Italian was the official language of the Republic of Ragusa from 1492 to 1807. It formerly had official status in Albania due to the annexation of
9792-508: The country to the Kingdom of Italy (1939–1943). Albania has a large population of non-native speakers, with over half of the population having some knowledge of the Italian language. The Albanian government has pushed to make Italian a compulsory second language in schools. The Italian language is well-known and studied in Albania, due to its historical ties and geographical proximity to Italy and to
9928-446: The country. A few hundred Italian settlers returned to Libya in the 2000s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonisation . Italian is today used in commerce, and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya). The capital city of Eritrea, Asmara , still has several Italian schools, established during
10064-515: The country. The official census, carried out in 2002, reported 2,258 ethnic Italians ( Istrian Italians ) in Slovenia (0.11% of the total population). Italian language in Croatia is an official minority language in the country, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. The 2001 census in Croatia reported 19,636 ethnic Italians (Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians ) in
10200-745: The day of the Carnival of the Fools, the Mayor hands over his power to the Podestà di Mat ( Podestà of the Fools) to Harlequin , and to the Compagnia di Mat ("the Company of the Fools") who give a public reading of the gossip and complaints that citizens have deposited in a box placed in the square of the Kuerc. The festival also includes a parade along the streets of the historic centre led by
10336-464: The design and fashion industries, in some sports such as football and especially in culinary terms. In Italy, almost all the other languages spoken as the vernacular —other than standard Italian and some languages spoken among immigrant communities—are often called " Italian dialects ", a label that can be very misleading if it is understood to mean "dialects of Italian". The Romance dialects of Italy are local evolutions of spoken Latin that pre-date
10472-523: The diffusion of Italian television in the country. Due to heavy Italian influence during the Italian colonial period , Italian is still understood by some in former colonies such as Libya. Although it was the primary language in Libya since colonial rule , Italian greatly declined under the rule of Muammar Gaddafi , who expelled the Italian Libyan population and made Arabic the sole official language of
10608-472: The educated gentlemen was to make the Grand Tour , visiting Italy to see its great historical monuments and works of art. It was expected that the visitor would learn at least some Italian, understood as language based on Florentine. In England, while the classical languages Latin and Greek were the first to be learned, Italian became the second most common modern language after French, a position it held until
10744-458: The establishment of Italian, and as such are sister languages to the Tuscan that was the historical source of Italian. They can be quite different from Italian and from each other, with some belonging to different linguistic branches of Romance. The only exceptions to this are twelve groups considered " historical language minorities ", which are officially recognized as distinct minority languages by
10880-433: The fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. Thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the official language of Italy. Italian was progressively made an official language of most of the Italian states predating unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign powers (such as Spain in the Kingdom of Naples , or Austria in
11016-655: The following four days. The attack drove nearly all the Protestants out of the valley, prevented further Protestant incursions and took the Valtellina out of the Three Leagues . The killings in Valtellina were part of the conflicts in Graubünden known as the Bündner Wirren or Confusion of the Leagues. In February 1623 France, Savoy, and Venice signed the Treaty of Paris in which all three signatories agreed to re-establish
11152-468: The free website and application Duolingo has 4.94 million English speakers learning the Italian language. According to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs , every year there are more than 200,000 foreign students who study the Italian language; they are distributed among the 90 Institutes of Italian Culture that are located around the world, in the 179 Italian schools located abroad, or in
11288-573: The grass"). The children walked in the meadows making noise with cowbells to call the grass and awaken it from its winter slumber. This custom also served to propitiate a bountiful harvest. In the village of Grosio , the Carnival is celebrated, unlike the rest of Valtellina, on the first Sunday of Lent , according to the Ambrosian calendar in force before the Gregorian Reform . For this reason, it
11424-504: The idea and its lack of planning and organisation. Pavolini continued to be its main advocate and gave it the soubriquet "Epic of the Fifty Thousand". This was a reference to the supposed number of fascist troops that would hold out in the valley. In fact, there was only a small number of fascists soldiers stationed there, mainly besieged in village garrisons by the partisans. Pavolini sent only 750 more in reinforcements. On 10 April 1945,
11560-406: The inevitable defeat, to inspire a future fascist revolution. The concept was that the stronghold would be well supplied with food and weaponry, defended by elite troops and not dependent on the Germans. Pavolini wrote to Mussolini on 8 September: Duce, the project – in the deplorable event of a further and almost complete invasion of republican territory – to entrench ourselves with
11696-483: The island of Corsica (but not in the neighbouring Sardinia , which on the contrary underwent Italianization well into the late 18th century, under Savoyard sway: the island's linguistic composition, roofed by the prestige of Spanish among the Sardinians , would therein make for a rather slow process of assimilation to the Italian cultural sphere ). The rediscovery of Dante's De vulgari eloquentia , as well as
11832-563: The language has a 7-vowel sound system ('e' and 'o' have mid-low and mid-high sounds). Italian has contrast between short and long consonants and gemination (doubling) of consonants. During the Middle Ages , the established written language in Europe was Latin, although the great majority of people were illiterate, and only few were well versed in the language. In the Italian Peninsula , as in most of Europe, most would instead speak
11968-631: The language to that continent. According to some sources, Italian is the second most spoken language in Argentina after the official language of Spanish, although its number of speakers, mainly of the older generation, is decreasing. Italian bilingual speakers can be found scattered across the Southeast of Brazil as well as in the South. In Venezuela , Italian is the most spoken language after Spanish and Portuguese, with around 200,000 speakers. In Uruguay , people who speak Italian as their home language are 1.1% of
12104-491: The late 18th century when it tended to be replaced by German. John Milton , for instance, wrote some of his early poetry in Italian. Within the Catholic Church , Italian is known by a large part of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and is used in substitution for Latin in some official documents. Italian loanwords continue to be used in most languages in matters of art and music (especially classical music including opera), in
12240-525: The late 19th to the mid-20th century, millions of Italians settled in Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Brazil and Venezuela, as well as in Canada and the United States, where they formed a physical and cultural presence. In some cases, colonies were established where variants of regional languages of Italy were used, and some continue to use this regional language. Examples are Rio Grande do Sul , Brazil, where Talian
12376-563: The law. On the other hand, Corsican (a language spoken on the French island of Corsica ) is closely related to medieval Tuscan , from which Standard Italian derives and evolved. The differences in the evolution of Latin in the different regions of Italy can be attributed to the natural changes that all languages in regular use are subject to, and to some extent to the presence of three other types of languages: substrata, superstrata, and adstrata . The most prevalent were substrata (the language of
12512-463: The meeting with details of the plan. Pavolini declared that the Valtellina Redoubt would be "Fascism's Thermopylae ", a final stand that would inspire future generations. He spoke of setting up a radio station in the valley to broadcast the final days of the stronghold to the outside world and printing a newspaper in the redoubt which would be air dropped on Italian cities. He also proposed having
12648-422: The military hierarchy. Nevertheless, Mussolini supported the idea and was persuaded by Pavolini's arguments in favour of the Valtellina being the location for it. In mid-September 1944, he commissioned Pavolini to oversee the development of the plan as it had been his idea. At the same time, he rejected the option of retreating to Germany and forming a government-in-exile there. However, after this initial decision,
12784-468: The motto that the group had chosen. On the walls of the villages, it was customary to write W LA CLASSE... ("cheers to the year...") followed by the year of birth: nowadays, conscripts hang a tricolour banner with the same wording and the names (or nicknames) of the members of the group. The feast of the conscripts is particularly felt in Alta Valtellina: in Grosio, for a week, the conscripts meet in
12920-470: The mountains. In the following month, another fascist official, Asvero Gravelli ( it ) inspected the redoubt and was equally pessimistic, reporting that the roads into the area were not safe for Mussolini and were subject to partisan attack. In April 1945, Giorgio Pisanò , then an officer in the Republican Guard , visited the area and was shocked by the lack of work that had been completed: Where
13056-412: The nation was unified in 1861. Italian is a Romance language , a descendant of Vulgar Latin (colloquial spoken Latin). Standard Italian is based on Tuscan , especially its Florentine dialect , and is, therefore, an Italo-Dalmatian language , a classification that includes most other central and southern Italian languages and the extinct Dalmatian . According to Ethnologue , lexical similarity
13192-477: The northern end of Lake Como . As a possible stronghold the Valtellina had a number of advantages. The 71 kilometre (44 mi) long valley was protected by mountains and easily defended, had hydroelectric power stations and a hospital even though it was sparsely populated, and was still surrounded by World War I fortifications. Some of these were part of the Cadorna Line defensive system. The western entrance to
13328-408: The number of printing presses in Italy grew rapidly and by the year 1500 reached a total of 56, the biggest number of printing presses in all of Europe. This enabled the production of more pieces of literature at a lower cost and Italian, as the dominant language, spread. Italian became the language used in the courts of every state in the Italian Peninsula , as well as the prestige variety used on
13464-630: The openness of vowels, the length of the consonants, and influence of the local language (for example, in informal situations andà , annà and nare replace the standard Italian andare in the area of Tuscany, Rome and Venice respectively for the infinitive "to go"). There is no definitive date when the various Italian variants of Latin—including varieties that contributed to modern Standard Italian—began to be distinct enough from Latin to be considered separate languages. One criterion for determining that two language variants are to be considered separate languages rather than variants of
13600-584: The original inhabitants), as the Italian dialects were most probably simply Latin as spoken by native cultural groups. Superstrata and adstrata were both less important. Foreign conquerors of Italy that dominated different regions at different times left behind little to no influence on the dialects. Foreign cultures with which Italy engaged in peaceful relations with, such as trade, had no significant influence either. Throughout Italy, regional varieties of Standard Italian, called Regional Italian , are spoken. Regional differences can be recognized by various factors:
13736-453: The other hand, almost everyone still speaks the Corsican idiom , which, due to its linguistic proximity to the Italian standard language, appears both linguistically as an Italian dialect and therefore as a carrier of Italian culture, despite the French government's decades-long efforts to cut Corsica off from the Italian motherland. Italian was the official language in Monaco until 1860, when it
13872-407: The other in exclaiming gabinat when they met. Whoever lost had to pay a pledge; often, the prize at stake was established in advance and the gabinat thus became the object of bets. To win, various strategies were adopted: stalking, disguises, fake illnesses ... Nowadays, it is only the children who do the gabinat , and they usually show up to relatives, friends, and local shopkeepers. The custom of
14008-496: The parade with flowers and other small crafts. Everyone wears the traditional red, black and white costume. After having followed the entire Via Roma and upon arrival at the Piazza del Kuerc (the main square of the town) the ancient bell called Bajona starts tolling and a jury draws up a ranking of the best Pasquali. At the end of the parade, the floats are exhibited in Piazza del Kuerc where they stay until Easter Monday. Started in 1963,
14144-512: The partisans at Dongo , barely short of the Valtellina, ended any possibility of a fascist last stand. The official language is Italian, but the Valtellinese variety of the Lombard Language is also spoken. On 31 January there was the tradition of l'è foeu el sginer ("January's out"), a custom very similar to that celebrated on 2 February known as l'è foeu l'ors de la tana ("the bear
14280-468: The partisans compiled a report wildly overestimating the fascist strength in the valley at 8,000 with the potential to increase to 40,000. The final German-Italian meeting on the project was held on 14 April. At the meeting, Mussolini introduced the project as the Ridotto Alpino Repubblicano (meaning Republican Alpine Redoubt) and used the acronym of "RAR". He then asked Pavolini to provide
14416-456: The passage of farmers, their agricultural vehicles and their livestock. A straw puppet with horns on his head representing the Carnival was also burnt. Nowadays, the districts of the towns challenge each other to the sound of allegorical floats, and the parade is attended by traditional masks, eight characters representing traditions, past events, and moments of everyday life: the Old Carnival,
14552-447: The plan on the grounds that it was impractical. He pointed out that Allied aerial bombing could destroy the valley in a day. Pavolini continued to strongly advocate the idea but had to admit that arms and food had yet to be sent to the valley and only 400 soldiers and 350 members of the Black Brigades were stationed there. The meeting ended without conclusion, but Mussolini the following day continued to assert he would make his last stand in
14688-406: The population of Italy could speak Standard Italian. He reports that in 1951 that percentage had risen to 87%. The ability to speak Italian did not necessarily mean it was in everyday use, and most people (63.5%) still usually spoke their native dialects. In addition, other factors such as mass emigration, industrialization, and urbanization, and internal migrations after World War II , contributed to
14824-405: The project drifted with no final decision on its implementation, despite Mussolini appearing to support it. Nevertheless, he told his son Vittorio at the end of 1944 that he was determined to make his last stand in the Valtellina Redoubt. During November and December 1944 some initial construction work began under the direction of fascist official, Vincenzo Costa . Costa had supported Pavolini in
14960-450: The project's completion, no stores or troops defending the redoubt and partisans continued to operate in the area. For the valley to have been an effective final stronghold for the fascists, extensive works would need to have been in progress since January 1945, and this had not been the case. The fascist cabinet finally discussed the project in detail at a meeting on 15 March 1945. The Minister of Defence, Marshal Graziani made it clear he
15096-469: The proliferation of Standard Italian. The Italians who emigrated during the Italian diaspora beginning in 1861 were often of the uneducated lower class, and thus the emigration had the effect of increasing the percentage of literates, who often knew and understood the importance of Standard Italian, back home in Italy. A large percentage of those who had emigrated also eventually returned to Italy, often more educated than when they had left. Although use of
15232-528: The pronunciation of stressed "e", and of "s" between vowels in many words: e.g. va bene "all right" is pronounced [vabˈbɛːne] by a Roman (and by any standard Italian speaker), [vaˈbeːne] by a Milanese (and by any speaker whose native dialect lies to the north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line ); a casa "at home" is [akˈkaːsa] for Roman, [akˈkaːsa] or [akˈkaːza] for standard, [aˈkaːza] for Milanese and generally northern. In contrast to
15368-415: The publication of Agnolo Monosini 's Latin tome Floris italicae linguae libri novem in 1604 followed by the first Italian dictionary in 1612. An important event that helped the diffusion of Italian was the conquest and occupation of Italy by Napoleon in the early 19th century (who was himself of Italian-Corsican descent). This conquest propelled the unification of Italy some decades after and pushed
15504-529: The referendum that allowed France to annex Savoy and Nice, and a group of his followers (among the Italian Savoyards ) took refuge in Italy in the following years. Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1769 after the Treaty of Versailles . Italian was the official language of Corsica until 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi called for the inclusion of the " Corsican Italians " within Italy when Rome
15640-460: The region and for young men to avoid conscription . Australia, especially Western Australia , was a popular destination for such migrants. Industrially, the area is famous as the home of the world's first mainline electrified railway . The electrification of the Ferrovia della Valtellina took place in 1902, using three-phase power at 3,600 V, with a maximum speed of 70 km/h. The system
15776-474: The surrounding mountains as well as the possibility of re-using fortifications built in the area for World War I . The idea was initially proposed in September 1944 by Alessandro Pavolini , one of the fascist leaders, who saw it as the place for the regime to make a "heroic" last stand which would inspire a future fascist revolution. Although Pavolini's idea was supported by Mussolini, the fascist leadership as
15912-464: The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church began to be understood from new perspectives as humanists —individuals who placed emphasis on the human body and its full potential—began to shift focus from the church to human beings themselves. The continual advancements in technology play a crucial role in the diffusion of languages. After the invention of the printing press in the 15th century,
16048-745: The territory of Valtellina by attempting to remove Spanish forces stationed there. In 1797 the growing power of the First French Republic created the Cisalpine Republic in Northern Italy. On 10 October 1797, the French supported a revolt in the Valtellina against the Graubünden ( Grisons in French and English), and it joined the Cisalpine Republic. After the Congress of Vienna in 1815,
16184-463: The title Divina , were read throughout the peninsula and his written dialect became the "canonical standard" that all educated Italians could understand. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language. In addition to the widespread exposure gained through literature, the Florentine dialect also gained prestige due to the political and cultural significance of Florence at the time and
16320-529: The total population of the country. In Australia, Italian is the second most spoken foreign language after Chinese, with 1.4% of the population speaking it as their home language. The main Italian-language newspapers published outside Italy are the L'Osservatore Romano ( Vatican City ), the L'Informazione di San Marino ( San Marino ), the Corriere del Ticino and the laRegione Ticino ( Switzerland ),
16456-623: The town of Tirano in the Valtellina with St. Moritz in Graubünden, Switzerland via the Bernina Pass . The mountains of the Valtellina offer numerous possibilities for sports activities: skiing and winter sports in Bormio , Aprica or Livigno , hiking and biking in the same locations and especially in the secondary valleys, and rock climbing in the Val Masino . The Rupe Magna, a unique large rock with more than 5,000 engraved figures dating from between
16592-460: The valley was covered by the fort of Montecchio , built between 1911 and 1915, which had four armoured turrets with Schneider 145mm canons. Other forts protected the eastern entrance to the valley, for example, Forte Venini di Oga , which had been built between 1908 and 1912 to defend the passes of the Upper Valtellina. However, it would require some effort to remove the partisans operating in
16728-508: The way to the new year. On 6 January, the custom of the gabinat is still celebrated today, especially in Tirano , in the Upper Valley, and in the nearby Poschiavo Valley (Switzerland). Traditionally, children would suddenly enter other people's homes shouting gabinat! and in exchange, they would receive a handful of cooked chestnuts, some sweets or dried fruit. The adults competed to precede
16864-637: The working languages of the Council of Europe . It is the third-most-widely spoken native language in the European Union (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom ) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million. Italian
17000-408: The year across") also celebrated New Year's Eve: during the night young people used to build barricades of gates, doors , benches, agricultural tools, logs, stairs, sledges, and carts in the main square or in front of the church, to prevent the old year from leaving. The next morning, the owners of the stolen objects had to go and recover them, dismantling the barricade and metaphorically opening up
17136-528: Was Christianized with around ten pieve (rural churches with a baptistery ) under the Diocese of Como . The Lombards gained control over the area after 720, but about fifty years later Charlemagne gave the valley to Saint Denis Monastery near Paris. Later the valley returned to the Bishop of Como. During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the Valtellina belonged to the Three Leagues (the "Grey Leagues"), which
17272-414: Was against it. Other ministers expressed concerns, to which Mussolini replied "the retreat in the Valtellina is not obligatory for anyone...Everyone will decide spontaneously." A final decision on action to be taken was not made which meant that the redoubt would not be prepared in time. The plan was discussed again at a German-Italian military conference on 6 April 1945. The Germans present were appalled by
17408-548: Was also introduced to Somalia through colonialism and was the sole official language of administration and education during the colonial period but fell out of use after government, educational and economic infrastructure were destroyed in the Somali Civil War . Italian is also spoken by large immigrant and expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. Although over 17 million Americans are of Italian descent , only
17544-515: Was an important part of the Spanish Road . The most important comune of the valley is Sondrio ; the others major centres are Aprica , Morbegno , Tirano , Bormio and Livigno . Although Livigno is on the northern side of the alpine watershed , it is considered part of Valtellina as it falls within the province of Sondrio . The region was conquered in 16 BC by the Romans . By the 5th century, it
17680-516: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , but King Victor Emmanuel II did not agree to it. Italian is generally understood in Corsica by the population resident therein who speak Corsican , which is an Italo-Romance idiom similar to Tuscan. Francization occurred in Nice case, and caused a near-disappearance of the Italian language as many of the Italian speakers in these areas migrated to Italy. In Corsica, on
17816-485: Was designed by the brilliant Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó who was employed by the main contractors the Budapest -based Ganz company. During the last months of World War II , the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and other diehard fascist leaders of the Italian Social Republic (RSI) proposed making a "last stand" against the advancing Allied armies in the Valtellina. The Fascist Party secretary Alessandro Pavolini
17952-443: Was mirrored by a decline in the use of the dialects. An increase in literacy was one of the main driving factors (one can assume that only literates were capable of learning Standard Italian, whereas those who were illiterate had access only to their native dialect). The percentage of literates rose from 25% in 1861 to 60% in 1911, and then on to 78.1% in 1951. Tullio De Mauro , an Italian linguist, has asserted that in 1861 only 2.5% of
18088-436: Was more than that. He noted that in mid-February 1945 partisan units reported large concentrations of Black Brigades in the area and that defence lines had been constructed by building on to the existing World War I fortifications. Another report from April said that 8,000 fascists were stationed in the Valtellina and a further 40,000 were due to arrive from Piedmont , Liguria , Emilia , Romagna and Lombardy . Nevertheless,
18224-630: Was replaced by the French. This was due to the annexation of the surrounding County of Nice to France following the Treaty of Turin (1860) . It formerly had official status in Montenegro (because of the Venetian Albania ), parts of Slovenia and Croatia (because of the Venetian Istria and Venetian Dalmatia ), parts of Greece (because of the Venetian rule in the Ionian Islands and by
18360-409: Was the main proponent of the idea, which he first raised with Mussolini in September 1944. However, the fascist leadership was divided over the plan and only minimal preparatory work was carried out to establish the area as a stronghold. By the time the Allies made their final advance in April 1945, the Valtellina was not ready to be used as a redoubt . In any event, Mussolini's capture on 27 April by
18496-475: Was then a mutual-defence region independent of Switzerland but is now the easternmost Swiss Canton of Graubünden . Graubünden is an area in which German, Romansh , Lombard and Italian are all spoken, and hence during 16th-century rule by Graubünden, the region became known variously as Veltlin , Westtirol (West Tyrol ), and the Welsche Vogteien ("Romanic Bailiwicks"). During the Thirty Years' War ,
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