Serbs in Italy

Serbs in Italy

Saint Spyridon Church, Trieste
Total population
(50–70,000 (est.))
Regions with significant populations
Rome, Trieste, Arzignano
Religion
Serbian Orthodox Church
Related ethnic groups
South Slavs

Serbs in Italy (Serbian: Срби у Италији/Srbi u Italiji, Italian: Serbi in Italia), or Italian Serbs, number around 46,958 in the territory of Italy.^[1]

History

According to Graziadio Isaia Ascoli, the 19th century writer Giovanni de Rubertis considered the Schiavoni (Slavs) or Dalmati (Dalmatians) of Molise in Italy to be Serbs that were brought there by Skanderbeg during his Italian expedition in 1460—1462 along with the Albanians.^[2]

In 1497 Italian court poet Rogeri de Pacienza di Nardo wrote about a group of Serbian refugees who left the Despotate of Đurađ Branković to settle in the village of Gioia del Colle near Bari, Italy. He describes how they sang and danced the kolo (dance) in honour of the Queen of Naples, Isabella del Balzo. The names of the singers that Pacienza wrote down are common Serbian names.^[3]

In 1782 the first Serbian school opened in Trieste, and in the 19th century the Serbian Orthodox "Saint Spyridon church" in Trieste was built near the Ponte Rosso square.^[4]

Demographics

Some 40,000 Serbs live in northern Italy. In Arzignano there are thousands of Serbs from all over former Yugoslavia.^[5] In Trieste, 10,000-15,000 Serbs live in the city.^[6]

• 46,958 (2013 census), "Foreign citizens" from Serbia (excl. Kosovo) ^[7]

Organizations

There are several community organizations of Serbs in Italy. The Association of Serbs of Italy was established in April 2015 by the combined organizations meeting in Trieste.^[8]

Notable people

Marko Stanojevic

Dragan Travica

Siniša Mihajlović

Rushka Bergman

Dejan Stanković

Spiridon Gopčević

Natalija Konstantinović

Rada Rassimov

Sportspeople

• Siniša Mihajlović (born 1969), retired footballer (played for Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio and Internationale), current manager (for AC Milan), lives in Italy since 1992
• Dejan Stanković (born 1978), retired footballer (played for Lazio and Internationale), current assistant coach (for Udinese), lives in Italy since 1998
• Dušan Basta (born 1984), active footballer, plays for Lazio, lives in Italy since 2008
• Miloš Malivojević (born 1993), active footballer born in Scandiano, Reggio Emilia
• Marino Nicolich (born 1910), late footballer born in Monfalcone, whose name was italianized in "Marino Nicoli" by the Italian Fascist government.
• Dragan Travica (born 1986), volleyball player born in Croatia, son of the Serbian coach Ljubomir Travica; plays for the Italian national team
• Ljubomir Travica (born 1954), volleyball coach and retired player; has residence in Italy since he played for Modena in 1983. He is the father of Dragan Travica
• Marko Stanojevic (born 1979), rugby union player born in Birmingham to a Serbian father and an Italian mother. He played for the Italian national team.

TV and cinema

• Nina Seničar (born 1985), model and actress, lives in Italy since 2006
• Sasha Montenegro (born 1945), actress born in Bari as Aleksandra Acimović Popović
• Ivan Rassimov (born 1938-died 2003), late actor born in Trieste to Serbian parents as Ivan Djerasimović; brother of Rada Rassimov.
• Rada Rassimov (born 1938), actress born in Trieste to Serbian parents as Rada Djerasimović; sister of Ivan Rassimov.

Singers

• Sara Jovanović (born 1993), Serbian singer born in Rome that represented Serbia at Eurovision Song Contest 2008

See also

• Triestine Serbs
• Serbian diaspora

External links

• "Svetionik (Srbi u Italiji)". (Community page) (Serbian) (Italian)
• European Development centre (Serbian Diaspora in Italy)
• Mihajlović, Miodrag (March 1998), Српска насеља на југу Италије — Скавуни и њихове изворске виле [Serbian settlements in Southern Italy — Schiavoni and their spring fairies], Srpsko Nasleđe, Istorijske sveske (in Serbian) 3, Belgrade: Preduzeće za novinsko izdavačku delatnost glas, OCLC 40132319, archived from the original on 10 September 2012

References

1. "Statistiche demografiche ISTAT" (PDF). Demo.istat.it. Retrieved 2014-10-03.
2. Kovačić, Risto (1885). "Srpske Naseobine u Južnoj Italiji". Glasnik Srpskoga učenog društva, Volume 62. Serbian Learned Society. pp. 273–340 [281]. Retrieved 21 July 2011. По господину де Рубертису, вели госп. Асколи ондје, први Срби — или како их онамо обичније зову Schiavoni или Dalmati — дошли су у Молизе заедно с Арбанасима (Албанези) што их је онамо довео Скендербег.
3. Mundal, Else; Wellendorf, Jonas, eds. (2008). Oral Art Forms and Their Passage Into Writing. Museum Tusculanum Press. p. 98. ISBN 9788763505048.
4. Sve Vesti, Udruzenje Srba "Vuk Karadzic" najstarija u Italiji
5. RTS.rs, Srbi u severnoj Italiji
6. "Rete Civica Trieste". Retrieved 12 May 2012.
7. "Cittadini Stranieri". December 31, 2013. Cittadini Stranieri. Popolazione residente per sesso e cittadinanza al 31 dicembre 2013 Italia - Europa
8. "Formiran Savez Srba Italije". Dijaspora. Uprava za saradnju sa dijasporom i Srbima u regionu. 27 April 2015.