On the German Alpine Inhabitants of South Tyrol and the Adjacent Venetian Territory

Appendix.

Statistics.

On the German Alpine inhabitants of South Tyrol and the adjacent Venetian territory. 1/7

1. Designation of these Alpine inhabitants.

The traveler who passes along the course of the Adige from northern Tyrol into southern Tyrol finds in Salorno the last region where German is spoken.

After a journey of an hour and a half, a completely new spectacle awaits him in St. Michael: language, clothing, food, entertainment, social manners, customs, even facial features – all these are things that unanimously remind him that he has already passed from the Germans to the Italians.

When he is in St. Michael, he has already penetrated further among the Italian inhabitants than he believes, for he has already left behind several Italian communities at his back, and very numerous ones to the right and left in the adjacent valleys, namely to the right the Non and Sole valleys, and to the left Fleims, Fassa, Primör, which together count around 60,000 souls.

Continuing his journey toward the south across Trient, Roveredo, and Verona, always along the Adige, he does not encounter a single German community on his right hand where German is spoken; on his left he now also has the valleys of Cembra, of Piné, the parishes of Verla, Meano, Albiano, Civezzano, with their respective curacies, and moreover many villages scattered in the Adige and Lagarina valleys, all Italian localities whose population amounts to at least 50,000 souls including the city of Trient, which regions, after the already mentioned valleys of Fleims, Fassa, and Primör, separate the traveler from the Germans by a broad highway.

Who would imagine, after such a large intervening space, that upon advancing further to the south, namely into Italy, one should encounter inhabitants who speak German? And yet one encounters such inhabitants, and indeed very numerous ones, not only on the outermost southern borders of Tyrol, but also beyond them, among the Alps of the provinces of Vicenza and Verona, which are in contact with Tyrol, namely in the Seven Communities of the Vicenza mountains, which communities lie between the rivers Brenta and Astico and consist of many villages that according to the Bulletin of Laws of 1807 then had a population of 30,800 souls; and in the Thirteen Communities of the Verona mountains, which border Tyrol from the side of the Arsa Valley, and in an official census in April 1821 comprised 8,754 inhabitants, all of whom until the end of the 17th century used the German language, which, however, is now preserved only among a fourth part of the population, while the rest speak Italian.

As far as Tyrol is concerned, here follow the names of those localities in which German is currently spoken, starting from the mountains situated toward the east in the entire surrounding area of the city of Roveredo down to Pergine inclusive.

In the Roveredo Circle

Terragnolo parish, number of souls . . . . . . . 1433.

Trambelleno curacy . . . . . . . . . 716.

Arsa Valley, parish . . . . . . . . . 2290.

Folgaria parish

St. Sebastian curacy

Nosellari likewise

Serrada likewise . . . . . . . . . 3000.

Guardia likewise

Mezzomonte, likewise

In the Trient Circle

Brancafora, parish

Luserna, curacy number of souls . . . . . 584.

Cassatto, curacy

Lavarone, parish ditto . . . . . 950.

Chiesa nuova, curacy

Noncegno the mountain, ditto . . . . . 40.

In the parish of Pergine on the mountain, to the left on the Fersina,

Palú, . . . . . number of souls . . . . . 442.

St. Felice in Fierozzo . . . . . . . . . . 307.

St. Francesco in Fierozzo . . . . . . . . . . 234.

Frassilongo . . . . . . . . . . 280.

Roveda . . . . . . . . . . 259.

Vignola . . . . . . . . . . 445.

Several villages in which German was spoken not long ago, which has now been replaced by Italian, e.g., Centa, Vattaro, Falesina, are omitted.

Outside Tyrol, German is still spoken:

a. In the Seven Communities of the Vicenza mountains in the following villages:

1. Azzago, chief town, counts souls . . . . . 4042.

2. Foza . . . . . . . . . . 1486.

3. Gallio . . . . . . . . . . 2684.

However, in both of the latter villages Italian is more prevalent than German.

4. Novana . . . . . . . . . . 2539.

5. Rotzo . . . . . . . . . . 1333.

The latter has two divisions, one called Pediskata, the other Vald'astiko, in which the national language has been completely lost and only Italian is customary.

This is also the case in Enego (number of souls 2,694) and Lusiana (number of souls 2,807).

In the following localities belonging to the Seven Communities, only a few designations of German areas have been preserved:

1. Valstagna (number of souls 2,441) 2. Campolongo (num. souls 1,310) 3. Val San Florian (num. souls 1,265) 4. Valravina (num. souls 676) 5. Crosara (num. souls 1,433) 6. Conco (num. souls 1,375) 7. Tresché Conca (num. souls 360). In Laste Basse (num. souls 613) the German national language is still spoken mixed with Italian.

b. In the Thirteen Communities of the Verona mountains German is still customary: 1. In German St. Bartholomä (num. souls 654) 2. In Selva di Progno with Giazza and Campo Fontana (num. souls 456) 3. Also in some localities in Velo *) (num. souls 783).

In total, therefore, 1,893 souls who still retain the German language, although in each of the mentioned villages it is spoken mixed with Italian. It is to be noted that all these inhabitants, although belonging to three different provinces, nevertheless border one another, or at least did border one another before the German language was lost in some places, so that it is extremely clear, and even confirmed by the uniformity of their dialect which deviates little from one another, that they once all formed a single folk tribe.

It is furthermore noteworthy that the language of the above-mentioned Roveredo and Verona Alpine inhabitants is commonly called Cimbrian, that of the adjacent Vicenza and Tyrol inhabitants humorously Schlaper, and that from Mount Roncegno and the mountains of Pergine Mocheno.

*) In those regions is located Mount Bolca, famous for the fossilized sea fish that are excavated there at an altitude of more than 1,000 feet above sea level.

(To be continued.)