Free Territory of Trieste
The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II. For a period of seven years, it acted as a free city.
Free Territory of Trieste | |||||||||||
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| 1947–1954 | |||||||||||
Flag
Coat of arms
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| Anthem: Inno Di San Giusto "Hymn to Saint Justus" | |||||||||||
Zone A (green) and Zone B (blue and pink), indicating how the territory was split following its dissolution | |||||||||||
| Status | Independent territory under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council | ||||||||||
| Capital and largest city | Trieste | ||||||||||
| Official languages | Italian · Slovene · Serbo-Croatian · English (only for administrative purposes) | ||||||||||
| Religion | Catholicism, Serbian Orthodox, Judaism | ||||||||||
| Demonym(s) | Triestine | ||||||||||
| Government | Temporary UNSC military government | ||||||||||
| Governor (Zone A) | |||||||||||
• 1945 (first) | Bernard Freyberg | ||||||||||
• 1951–1954 (last) | John Winterton | ||||||||||
| Governor (Zone B) | |||||||||||
• 1945–1947 (first) | Dušan Kveder | ||||||||||
• 1951–1954 (last) | Miloš Stamatović | ||||||||||
| Legislature | People's Assembly | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||||
| 30 April 1945 | |||||||||||
| 10 January 1947 | |||||||||||
| 10 February 1947 | |||||||||||
• London Memorandum | 5 October 1954 | ||||||||||
| 10 November 1975 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Italian lira (Zone A) Triestine lira (Zone B) | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | Croatia Slovenia Italy | ||||||||||
The territory was established on 10 February 1947, by a protocol of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral independent country. The intention was also to cool down territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia, due to its strategic importance for trade with Central Europe. It came into existence on 15 September 1947. Its administration was divided into two areas: one being the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the northwest (Zone A); the other (Zone B) was formed by a small portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula.
The territory was de facto dissolved in 1954 and given to Italy (Zone A) and Yugoslavia (Zone B). This created a border dispute which was only settled twenty years later with the signing the bilateral Treaty of Osimo in 1975, which was ratified in 1977.
The city of Trieste and the territory which formed Zone A is today part of Italy's Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the area of the former Zone B is today part of Slovenia and Croatia.