“Free Trieste Movement”: a first Russian intervention in domestic politics of a Western country?

A massive amount of literature is available about the peculiarity of Trieste city and its territory, closely related to the presence of the boundary that runs close to the city, giving it a particular self-perception of the identity as the "border-city" (Ara, Magris, 2007; Battisti, 2018). Main element of this particularity of Trieste is its rich ethnic, linguistic and cultural composition, that gives evidence to the difference between this city and all the other Italian ones. The presence of cultures coming from different countries is a constant source of tensions, but, on the other hand, it became an identity marker of the city, whose inhabitant feel themselves like something different from every other city populations. Indeed, Trieste is characterizing by a very complex weave of nationalities and identities since the 18th century, when Austrian Emperor Charles VI gave the city the "license of the free port," converting a little fisher village of 5.600 inhabitants (in 1717; Godoli, 1984) into the main harbor of the Empire. This has led to an emergence of the city-identity based on cohabitation (not always peaceful) of many different nationalities, religions, cultures, etc. In this sense, the city has become a paradigm of the critical issues related to the study of identity and borders, due to its geographical location and its unique historical experience. During the 20th century, the different identities exploded in violent confrontations, and national states were fiercely disputing the possession of the city causing serious tensions - in just forty years, seven different flags waved over the castle of San Giusto, a symbol of the city (De Szombathely, 2009). This dispute has exacerbated the internal ethnic divide, causing deep divisions among the citizens of the same city. The establishment of the European Union and the removal of borders between the Member States has triggered a process of reducing internal pressure within the city, in which many non-native-Italian-speaking communities still live together today. After the fall of the impenetrable border, in fact, the port of Trieste has again re-acquired the possibility – lost in 1918 with the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – to relate with its natural hinterland, both in commercial and in cultural terms.