Gorizia

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Comune di Gorizia
Municipal coat of arms
Country	Italy
Region	Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Province	Gorizia (GO)
Mayor	Vittorio Brancati (since June 10, 2002)

Elevation	84 m
Area	41 km²
Population
- Total (as of December 31, 2004)	26,615
- Density	863/km²
Time zone	CET, UTC+1
Coordinates	45°08′N 10°02′E
Gentilic	Goriziani, Goričani
Dialing code	0481
Postal code	34170
Frazioni	Castello, Lucinico, Oslavia, Piuma, San Mauro, Sant’Andrea, Straccis, Vallone dell'Acqua, Gradiscutta, Piedimonte, Monte Calvario, Oslavia , San Mauro
Patron	Saints Ilario and Taziano
- Day	March 16
Website: www.comune.gorizia.it

Gorizia (Slovenian: Gorica, German: Görz, Friulian: Gurize) is a small town at the foot of the Alps, in northeastern Italy, on the border with Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce.

The railway square viewed from the Slovenian railway station in Nova Gorica [Photo: RP].

In Slovenian, Gorica means "little hill." The city is located at the confluence of the valleys of Isonzo and Vipava rivers. It lies in a plain overlooked by the Collio hills, which are renowned for the production of outstanding wines. Being sheltered from the north by a mountain ridge, Gorizia is not touched by the cold winds coming from there. And although the bora can blow from the east, the city still retains a mild climate.

[edit] History

See also County of Gorizia

Originally a watchtower or a prehistoric castle, Gorizia soon became a little village near the fords of the river Isonzo. It was not far from one of the most important Roman travelways linking Aquileia and Emona (Ljubljana). The name of Gorizia was for the first time recorded in a document dated AD April 28, 1001: "Villa quae Sclavorum lingua vocatur Goriza ". This stated the donation of the castle and village of Gorizia made by Emperor Otto III to Patriarch Giovanni II and to Count Verihen Eppstein of Friuli. The Eppsteins were succedeed by the Palatine counts of Bavaria.

From the 11th century, the town had two different development plans: the castellan hamlet or superior land and the village or inferior land. The first played a political-administrative role and the second a rural-commercial role. From the 12th century to the early 16th century Gorizia was the capital of an essentially independent County, whose changeable dominions extended for a short while up to Aquileia and Tyrol.

In 1500 the County of Gorizia passed to Austrian Habsburg rule and the city spread out at the foot of the castle becoming, in the middle of the 18th century, an archepiscopal see with jurisdiction over the diocese of Trieste, Trento, Como and Pedena. Around the Baroque cathedral where many treasures of the Basilica of Aquileia had been transferred, a new quarter developed; it had a typically 18th century appearance and inside there was also a synagogue, one of the many examples of the town's multi-ethnic nature. The Habsburg suzerainty was interrupted briefly by the Venetians in 1508-1509 and the French during the Napoleonic Wars, in which it belonged to the Illyrian Provinces. When restored to the Austrian Empire, the county was part of the subject Kingdom of Illyria until 1849 when it was made a part of the Austrian Littoral along with Trieste and Istria. In 1861, Gorizia along with Gradisca d'Isonzo was reorganized as the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca within Austria. During Austrian rule, Gorizia was known as the "Austrian Nice" and was a destination which the Austrian noblemen came to sojourn in the summer months.

The current border between Italy and Slovenia.

Italy entered World War I on the Allied side and conflict began with Austria-Hungary on 24 May 1915 with Italy soon taking Gorizia. Gorizia was seriously damaged and changed hands again in 1916 as the front line ran in its area for two years with several battles fought nearby until the Central Powers pushed the Italians back to the Piave River in late 1917. However, with the end of World war I in 1918, Gorizia was retaken by Italy. At first it was part of the Governorate of Venezia Giulia (1918-1919), and later was annexed to Veneto within the Province of Udine (then called the Province of Friuli). In 1927 Gorizia became a provincial capital within Venezia Giulia. It was under German administration from 1943 to 1945, within the Adriatic Littoral Operation Zone, and, after a brief period under Allied control, it was returned to Italy in 1947. Several peripherical districts (the communes of Salcano and San Pietro) together with much of the Province of Gorizia's territory, however, were handed over to the Second Yugoslavia, placing the international border adjacent to the city. These areas became a part of Slovenia within federal Yugoslavia.

Though a border city, Gorizia was not crossed by the border with Yugoslavia as often erroneuosly claimed. This image stems mainly from the presence in Yugoslav territory of old buildings once belonging to Gorizia: these include the old railway station of the line that connected the town of Gorizia to the Austro-Hungarian capital Vienna. Josip Broz Tito had a new city, Nova Gorica ("New Gorizia"), constructed in the 1948 in what is now Slovenian territory. Although the situation in Gorizia was often compared with that of Berlin during the Cold War, Italy and Yugoslavia had good relations on Gorizia. These included sport and cultural meetings that favoured the creation of a melting pot that still exists today. With the breakup of Yugoslavia, the frontier remained as the division between Italy and Slovenia.

The Castle of Gorizia.

[edit] Main sights

The Castle, built within the Middle Ages walls, was once the seat of the administrative and judiciary power of the county. It is divided into the Corte dei Lanzi (with foundings of a high tower demolished in the 16th century), the Palazzetto dei Conti (13th century) and the Palazzetto Veneto. The Lanzi were the armed guards, the term being an Italian form of Landsknecht. The palatine chapel, entitled to Saint Bartholomew houses canvases of the Venetian school of painting and traces of Renaissance frescoes. There is also a Museum of the Goritian Middle Ages.
The Cathedral (originally erected in the 14th century), like many of the city's buildings, was almost entirely destroyed during World War I. It has been rebuilt following the forms of the 1682 edifice, a Baroque church with splendid stucco decoration. A Gothic chapel of San Acatius is annexed to the nave.
The most important church of Gorizia is that of St. Ignatius, built by the Jesuits in 1680-1725. It has a single nave with precious sculptures at the altars of the side chapels. In the presbytery Christoph Tausch painted a Glory of St. Ignatius in 1721.

The Palazzo Attems Petzenstein (19th century), designed by Nicolò Pacassi.
The church of San Rocco.
Palazzo Cobenzl, today seat of the archbishops.
The Earls of Lantieri's house, which housed emperors and popes in his history.
The Palazzo Coronini Cronberg, including an art gallery.
The railway square, divided by an international border.

The Department of International and Diplomatic Sciences of the University of Trieste, hosted in the beautiful "Seminario Minore", is the most prestigious academic course in Foreign Affairs in Italy.