In some municipalities in Croatia in Slovenia, census data shows that there are still many Italians living in Istria, such as 66% of the population of Grisignano (519 Italians), 41% at Bertoniglia (652 Italians) and nearly 40% in Buie (2,118 Italians).
The Italians in coastal Slovenia and Croatia were mostly an indigenous population (in 1910 they accounted for more than a third of the local inhabitants, while in Istria they were nearly 55%), bolstered by new arrivals or the so called "regnicoli", never well liked by the slavs by the indigenous Venetian-speaking Istrians, who arrived between 1918-1943, when Istria, Fiume, part of Dalmatia, and the islands of Cres (Cherso), Lussino, Lagosta, and Pelagosa (Palagruža) were part of Italy. Austrian 1910 census indicated approximately 182,500 people who listed Italian as their language of communication in what is now the territory of Slovenia and Croatia: 137,131 in Istria, 28,911 in Fiume/Rijeka (1918), 11,487 in Zara/Zadar, 5,000 in Dalmatia, while the Italian 1936 census indicated approximately 230,000 people who listed Italian as their language of communication in what is now the territory of Slovenia and Croatia, then part of the Italian state (ca. 194,000 in today’s Croatia and ca. 36,000 in today’s Slovenia). From the end of World War II until 1953, according to various data, between 250,000 and 350,000 people emigrated from these regions. Some thousands were Slovenes and Croats who opposed the Communist government in Yugoslavia, while most were ethnic Italians, the so-called "optanti" emigrants who were living permanently in this region on 10 June 1940 and who expressed their wish to obtain Italian citizenship and emigrate to Italy. The emigration of Italians greatly reduced the total population of the region and totally altered its ethnic structure.
In 1953, officially, only 36,000 Italians lived in Yugoslavia, 16% of the Italian population before World War II. In its 1996 report on 'Local self-government, territorial integrity and protection of minorities' the Council of Europe's European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission) put it that "a great majority of the local Italians, Italianites (of Slavic and other origin), many thousands of Slovenes and of nationally undefined bilingual 'Istrians' used their legal right from the peace treaty to 'opt out' of the Yugoslav controlled part of Istria. In several waves they moved to Italy and elsewhere (also overseas) and claimed Italian or other citizenship. The mass exodus of the optanti (or "esuli" as they were called in Italy) from 'godless communist Yugoslavia' was actively encouraged by the Italian authorities, Italian radio and the Roman Catholic bishop of Trieste. After this huge drain, the numerical strength of the remaining Italian minority became stable".
Evidence of Italic people living alongside those from other ethnic groups on the eastern side of the Adriatic as far north as the Alps goes back at least to the Bronze Age, and the populations have been mixed ever since. A 2001 population census counted 23 languages spoken by the people of Istria. Istria and Dalmatia were fully latinized at the fall of the Roman empuire in the fifth century.
From the Middle Ages onwards numbers of Slavic people near and on the Adriatic coast were ever increasing, due to their expanding population and due to pressure from the Turks pushing them from the south and east. This led to Italic people becoming ever more confined to urban areas in Dalmatia, while the countryside was populated by Slavs, with certain isolated exceptions. But Istria remained fully Italian until the Ottoman invasion in the sixteenth century.
The original majority Italian population suffered economic and political disadvantages, which gradually increased with the Austro-Hungarian empire in the 19th century. This created a strong emigration: in Dalmatia the Dalmatian Italians were 25% in 1815, but a century later in 1915 they were only 2%.
In 1915, the Italians attacked the Austro-Hungarian Empire leading to bloody conflict mainly on the Isonzo and Piave fronts. Britain, France and Russia had been "keen to bring neutral Italy into World War One on their side. Italy however drove a hard bargain, demanding extensive territorial concessions once the war had been won".
In a deal to draw Italy into the war, under the London Pact, Italy was granted Trentino, Trieste, (the German-speaking) South Tyrol, and Istria including large non-Italian communities. But Dalmatia was excluded, as was Rijeka. In Dalmatia, not granted to Italy by the London pact, Italy gained the city of Zadar and some islands.
After World War I, under the Treaty of Rapallo between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and the Kingdom of Italy (12 November 1920), Italy obtained all of Istria with Trieste, the exception being the island of Krk and part of Kastav commune, which went to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. By the Treaty of Rome (27 January 1924) the Free state of Fiume was split between Italy and Yugoslavia.
After the Wehrmacht invasion of Yugoslavia (6 April 1941), the Italian zone of occupation was further expanded. Italy annexed large areas of coastal Yugoslavia (including most of coastal Dalmatia) and Slovenia (including its capital Ljubljana).
After the Second World War, there were large-scale movements of people choosing to move to Italy rather than live in Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia, the people who left were called "optanti", which translates as 'choosers', while they call themselves "esuli" or exiles. Their motives for leaving may have been fear of reprisals and murders, economic motives, or ethnically based.
When the Fascist regime collapsed in 1943 reprisals against Italian fascists and civilians (even Italian communists) took place. At least 200 Italians were killed by Tito's resistance movement in September 1943; some had been connected to the fascist regime, while others were victims of personal hatred or the attempt of the partisan resistance to get rid of its real or supposed enemies. These events took place in central and eastern Istria, as well as in Slovenian Primorska.<br>
The second wave of anti-Italian violence took place after occupation of Slav army in May 1945. This was known as the foibe massacres; actually it was a reenaction of what had been already began in 1943 but in larger scale.
Many Italian sources claim that these killings were ethnic cleansing and genocide: Italian people were forced to mass migration by Tito supporters.
The mixed Italian-Slovenian Historical Commission, established in 1995 by the two governments to investigate the matters, described the 1945 killings:
The number of victims is not certain. The Italian historian Raoul Pupo suggests 4,500 were killed (including the events of 1943), mostly Italians, but many bodies wearing Partisan uniforms were found as well, so the number is subject to many interpretations. Other sources suggest numbers reaching up to 30,000 killed or missing.
Economic insecurity, ethnic hatred and the international political context that eventually led to the Iron Curtain resulted in approximately 350,000 people, mostly Italians, choosing to leave the region. The London Memorandum of 1954 gave to the ethnic Italians the choice of either opting to leave (the so-called "optants") or staying. These exiles were to be given compensation for their loss of property and other indemnity by the Italian state under the terms of the peace treaties. Following the exodus, the areas were settled with Yugoslav people.
The exodus took place between 1943 and 1960; Italians allege that most of their numbers left in
The first period took place after the surrender of the Italian army and the beginning of the first wave of anti-fascist violence.