Ljubljana Life

Nova Gorica

The walls come tumbling down…

Gorizia and Nova Gorica march hand in hand into the European Union.

by brian požun, March 2004

Slovenia's history as an independent country stretches back only as far as 1991, when it declared independence from the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. But the history of the Slovene nation stretches much further into the past, at least to the year 595. That's the year when the first Slovene state, the Duchy of Carantania, was first mentioned in surviving written records, in this case the Historia Langobardorum of Paulus Diaconus. Carantania was short-lived, however, and the lands inhabited by Slovenes were all in the hands of the Hapsburgs by the 14th century and remained there until the founding of Yugoslavia in 1918.

Though most of the lands inhabited by Slovenes found their way into Yugoslavia after World War I, significant territories along the Adriatic coast instead fell to Italy. These territories included the major Slovene centers of Trieste (Trst) and Gorizia (Gorica). World War II saw Tito’s Partisans fighting tooth and nail for the coastal Primorska region’s unification with the newly-reformed Yugoslavia. At the end of the war, however, the Partisans were only partially successful – while much of the territory did in fact end up in Yugoslavia’s hands at the end of the war, both Trieste and Gorizia remained with Italy.

Trieste was by far the biggest loss. Prior to World War I, the city was the Slovenes’ principle urban center, and as the largest port on the northern Adriatic, the city was an economic powerhouse. When Trieste was finally awarded to Italy in 1954, Tito took action. The port of Koper was squarely in Yugoslav territory and not far from Trieste, though far smaller and less developed. Starting in 1957, Tito began building up Koper to the point that by the time of Slovene independence in 1991, the city’s port was equal in size and capacity to that of Trieste. In fact, in the past ten years Trieste has fallen into sharp decline, its annual turnover falling annually by 5.5 million tons. Koper, on the other hand, has boomed, its annual turnover having grown by 60 percent to over eight million. Koper is the preferred port of both Hungary and Austria, and business is increasing with Bavaria, Slovakia and Poland.

Tito’s revenge

Tito did not take the loss of Gorizia lying down either. The Paris Peace Conference awarded Gorizia to Italy in 1946, and by 1948 work was well underway on the city Tito would build to replace the loss: Nova Gorica (New Gorizia).

The only part of Gorizia which Yugoslavia managed to keep hold of after the war was the Hapsburg-era Art Nouveau train station, while the rest of the city was cordoned off by a 40-kilometre fence. Gorizia continued to develop on the Italian side of the fence, while Nova Gorica, a Socialist “paradise” of parks, culture and grey concrete prefabs, sprung up on the Yugoslav side.

Communist youth brigades were dispatched to begin work in December 1947, which went quickly. The new town quickly filled up with residents who came from smaller towns in the area, as well as from other parts of Slovenia and Yugoslavia. It was dubbed the “City of Flowers,” so named for its gardens and parks on the one hand and its youth on the other. The city of flowers blossomed into a regional center not long after its founding. Though it never surpassed Gorizia, it certainly held its own. Today, Nova Gorica is the administrative, cultural and economic center of western Slovenia and home to 36,000.

Though Nova Gorica never outpaced Gorizia like Koper did Trieste, Tito tried to rub the Italians’ noses in the success of his new city by emblazoning his name in large stone letters on the side of Trstelj hill, which rises some 600 meters above Nova Gorica. The stones were placed such that “Tito” is visible from anywhere in Nova Gorica or Gorizia.

However, even though it is home to cultural institutions such as the Gorica Museum, the Provincial Archive and Library and the Science and Environment Faculty of the newly-founded University of Primorska, Nova Gorica is certainly most notorious for its casinos. The biggest are Hit Park and Hit Perla, which are a little bit of Las Vegas on the Adriatic, attracting not only the locals but tourists from Italy and beyond.

Tear down that wall!

The two cities, Gorizia and Nova Gorica, existed side by side but worlds apart for nearly fifty years, much like East and West Berlin. Cooperation between them was rare, though after 1991 things picked up. Nevertheless, it was only in November 2003 that regular bus service was introduced between them. Though the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the fence between Italy and Slovenia remained firmly in place until 12 February 2004.

On that day, at exactly noon, Nova Gorica Mayor Mirko Bulc and Gorizia Mayor Vittorio Brancati symbolically began tearing down the wall in a public ceremony anticipating the dissolution of the Italian-Slovene border when the European Union expands on 1 May. People from both sides of the fence were there, along with journalists from around the world, eager to witness what the BBC dubbed the “fall of the last piece of the Berlin wall”.

Now, the only remnant of the fence is a marker stone proclaiming “Republic of Italy” on one side and “Republic of Slovenia” on the other. The stone stands in the middle of the square at the foot of the train station. Italians and Slovenes are now hard at work building a new square which will span both sides of the border, physically uniting Gorizia and Nova Gorica in the same way the old fence once divided the two cities. The square should be finished by 27 March, and there are already calls for it to be called the Square of United Europe. The site of the former fence will now be demarcated by flowers, and the square will boast a mosaic by Slovene artist Franco Vecchiet of Trieste.

Another public ceremony will be held at the site of the Gorizia/Nova Gorica fence on 30 April at midnight, as Slovenia becomes a full-fledged member of the EU. European Commission President Romano Prodi, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi and Slovene President Janez Drnovšek are to meet in the twin cities to swing a symbolic pick axe at the fence. Now that it has already been destroyed, a bit will have to be put back up for the ceremony.

Though the fence will make a brief reappearance for the festivities, with Slovenia firmly in Europe alongside Italy, it is not likely to become a permanent fixture any time soon. Cooperation and coexistence, however, certainly will.

Brian Požun is a contributing editor for Ljubljana Life. He can be contacted by email at: bpozun@aol.com.