Molise Croats
Encyclopedia
Molise Croats live in the Molise
Molise
Molise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...

 region of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 in the villages Acquaviva Collecroce
Acquaviva Collecroce
Acquaviva Collecroce is a small town and comune in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise region of southern Italy, between the Biferno and Trigno rivers....

 , San Felice del Molise
San Felice del Molise
San Felice del Molise is a small town and comune in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy, near the Trigno river....

 , Montemitro
Montemitro
Montemitro is a small town and comune in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy, near the Trigno river....

  and elsewhere. In these three villages they are a majority. There are about 5,000 speakers of the Molise Croatian dialect
Molise Croatian dialect
Molise Croatian dialect is a Croatian dialect spoken in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise Region of southern Italy, in the villages of Montemitro , Acquaviva Collecroce and San Felice del Molise...

. Additionally, there are about 1,000 people in other parts of Italy and emigrants in other countries originating from these villages.

These three villages are the descendants of colonies of Croat refugees (due to the Ottoman advance), that appeared in the Italian southern Adriatic hinterland (from Marche
Marche
The population density in the region is below the national average. In 2008, it was 161.5 inhabitants per km2, compared to the national figure of 198.8. It is highest in the province of Ancona , and lowest in the province of Macerata...

 to Puglia) in the 15th century.

Identity and language

The Molise Croat community is split on ethnic identify: they may declare Croat
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 or Italian; the speak the Molise Croat dialect as a communal tongue, alongside Italian which is their national language. Milena Lalli, a poet born to local parents in Rome, studied Slavic languages in the 1970s and acquired a sizeable literary Croatian vocabulary to replace the numerous Italian borrowings in her dialect. These Croatian words and even whole expressions are translated in parentheses or off to the side into proper Italian; so also in translations from Croatian.

Religion and traditions

The Molise Croats, in majority are Catholic. Tradition holds that the community settled "zone bane mora" (from the other side of the sea) in the 15th century, and was once much more widespread. A legend says that they came to the new country on one Friday in May carrying only the statue of Saint Lucy
Saint Lucy
Saint Lucy , also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are...

. Because the exact year and date of their arrival is unknown they hold processions dedicated to Saint Lucy (Sveta Luca) on every Friday in May.

Origins

Scientists offer the following hypotheses about the geographical origins of Molise Croats:
  • About the 16th century, their ancestors migrated to Molise from the valley of the river Neretva, which is partly in southern Croatia, partly in Herzegovina;
  • At the beginning of the 16th century the Croat refugees arrived in Molise from Dalmatia, precisely from the area around the mouth of river Neretva
    Neretva
    Neretva is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. It has been harnessed and controlled to a large extent by four HE power-plants with large dams and their storage lakes, but it is still recognized for its natural beauty, diversity of its landscape and visual...

     (Reissmüller);
  • Molise Croats came from areas around the city of Zadar
    Zadar
    Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...

     (Aranza);
  • Molise Croats originated from štokavian-morlakian part of southern Istria
    Istria
    Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...

     (Badurina);
  • Molise Croats originated from Zadar
    Zadar
    Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...

     and Šibenik
    Šibenik
    Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...

     hinterland (Hraste);
  • Molise Croats originated from area of Zabiokovlje
    Zabiokovlje
    Zabiokovlje is a hinterland, continental area of mountain Biokovo in southern Croatia.There are the townlets and villages like Gornja Brela, Zadvarje, Žeževica, Grabovac, Rastovac, Zagvozd, Župa, Rašćane i Kozica....

     (hinterland area of mountain Biokovo
    Biokovo
    Biokovo is the second-highest mountain range in Croatia, located along the Dalmatian coast of the Adriatic Sea, between the rivers of Cetina and Neretva...

    ) in southern Croatia, between cities of Imotski
    Imotski
    Imotski , is a small town situated on the northern side of Biokovo massif, Dalmatian hinterland, Croatia. The town was first mentioned as Imotski for the first time in the 10th century and it was held by the Turks from the fall of Bosnia until 1717 when it was captured by the Venetians. The town...

    , Zagvozd
    Zagvozd
    Zagvozd is a municipality in Croatia in the Split-Dalmatia County. It has a population of 1,642 , 99% which are Croats.Zagvozd celebrates its municipal day on July 16 to coincide with the local celebration of the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.-History:From 1941 to 1945, Zagvozd was part of the...

     and Makarska
    Makarska
    Makarska is a small town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about southeast of Split and northwest of Dubrovnik. It has a population of 13,716 residents. Administratively Makarska has the status of a town and it is part of the Split-Dalmatia County....

     (theory based on čakavian and štokavian-čakavian features in Molise Croatian speech, found also in Zabiokovlje area) (Muljačić).

Literature

  • Aranza, Josip (1892), Woher die südslavischen Colonien in Süditalien (Archiv für slavische Philologie, XIV, pagg. 78-82, Berlin 1892)
  • Heršak, Emil (1982), Hrvati u talijanskoj pokrajini Molise", Teme o iseljeništvu. br. 11, Zagreb: Centar za istraživanje migracija, 1982, 49 str. lit 16.
  • Vesna Kukvica (2005), Iseljenički horizonti, Prikazi i feljtoni (ur.: Željka Lovrenčić), Hrvatska matica iseljenika, Zagreb, ISBN 953-6525-37-2, article "Migracije Moliških Hrvata u Zapadnu Australiju" (Migrations of Molise Croats in Western Australia)

External links

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