According to data from the 2002 census, 2,258 people identified themselves as Italian nationals, while 3,762 individuals listed Italian as their mother tongue. The majority of these individuals—81.5% or 1,840—live in an ethnically mixed area that includes the municipalities of Ankaran, Koper, Izola, and Piran. Approximately 18.5% of individuals of Italian nationality live outside this area. The ethnically mixed areas in the Republic of Slovenia, where the Italian national community (INS) is indigenous and where Slovenian and Italian have equal status as official languages, comprise parts of four coastal municipalities.
The umbrella organization of the Italian national community in Slovenia is the Coastal Self-Governing Community of the Italian Nationality, which acts as the official representative of state authorities in the municipalities of Ankaran, Koper, Izola, and Piran, where Italians live as an indigenous national community. At the level of individual municipalities, the Italian national community is organized into municipal self-governing national communities, which represent the political body of the community in relation to local authorities. These municipal communities appoint their representatives to the Council of the Coastal Self-Governing Community of the Italian Nationality, in which each municipality has its own representation. In accordance with municipal statutes, one of the deputy mayors in each of the four coastal municipalities must be a member of the Italian national community. In addition, members of the community have their own councillors in municipal councils, who are elected in special elections for members of minorities. At the national level, members of the Italian national community elect their representative to the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia by a majority system, as stipulated in the third paragraph of Article 80 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.
National communities are guaranteed all the rights arising from the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia and from international treaties to which Slovenia is a signatory. These rights apply regardless of the number of members of the national community, which confirms the principle of non-discrimination. The Italian national community thus has the right to: express its national identity, use its language and script, use its national symbols, establish organizations, develop economic, cultural, scientific, and research activities, as well as activities in the field of public information and publishing, cultivating relations with their parent nations and their countries, and education in their mother tongue.
Educational institutions are the cornerstone of the Italian national community, as they enable the preservation and intergenerational transmission of the Italian language and culture. The Italian education system, which is part of the public school system in Slovenia, includes kindergartens, elementary schools, and high schools where the language of instruction is Italian. In addition, the curricula also include supplements in geography, history, music, and art history.
The Italian national community in Slovenia boasts a long tradition of media presence. Italian radio and television programs based in Koper operate under the umbrella of RTV Slovenia. The publishing house EDIT, founded in 1952, plays a key role in realizing the constitutional right to information in the mother tongue, i.e., in Italian. EDIT publishes La Voce del Popolo, which has been one of the regularly published daily newspapers outside Italy since 1945. It also publishes the magazine Panorama, which has been in circulation since 1952, the monthly youth magazine Arcobaleno, and the quarterly literary magazine La Battana.
Important local organizations scattered throughout the historical settlement area are the Italian Communities, which are associations of members of the Italian minority that are active primarily in culture, but also in sports and social activities. Their goal is to promote Italian culture, language, and identity. They are active in the fields of music, theater, art, literature, folklore, and sports, keeping traditions, customs, and habits alive.
An important element of the organization of the Italian national community is represented by the Italian Communities, which operate as associations of members of the Italian minority and are scattered throughout the entire area of its historical settlement. These are local organizations whose activities are mainly focused on cultural activities, but they are also active in the fields of sports and social affairs. The main goal of the Italian Communities is to preserve and promote the Italian language, culture, and national identity. Their activities cover a wide range of cultural expressions, from music, theater, visual arts, literature, and folklore to sports activities, thereby making an important contribution to the preservation of the traditions, customs, and cultural heritage of the Italian national community in Slovenia.
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