Inscriptions in Rovinj / Rovigno

Pietro Ive, First Victim of Fascism

Who are we? - Contacts - Collaboration - Lageplan
Inscriptions of Rovinj < Inscriptions of Croatia < Inscriptions < Areas of Interest < Welcome

On the walls of two houses standing on the Trg na mostu / Piazza del Ponte (Bridge Square) you can see the inscriptions described here, one being a simple street sign and the other commemorating the first local victim of nazism.

First Inscription

Comment On the First Inscription

This street sign, which I photographed just to remember the place where there was Pietro Ive's commemorative plaque, is another example of official bilingualism in Rovinj / Rovigno.

According to the English Wikipedia, a toponym is "the general term for any place or geographical entity". In the present case, it applies to Trg na Mostu as well as to Piazza del Ponte, which are two names for the same thing. The meaning of both names (Bridge Square) comes from the historical fact that the square covers the surface of a former arm of the sea that – before being filled up – separated the historic city from the continent but was crossed by a bridge.

Second Inscription

Comment On the Second Inscription

Both versions of this inscription obviously adopt party for Pietro Ive, the militant communist killed by fascists. Real fascists or only people assumed to be fascists? I don't know. In 1971, when the commemorative plaque was installed, Yugoslavia was governed by Tito and his communist party. That is why the term of "fascist fury" ought to be considered cautiously. Any other communist government could have used similar expressions for the partisans of non-communist organizations or states. In the present case, the Italian fascism is intended. And at any rate, fascism is not equal to nazism.

Pietro Ive seems to have been killed in the beginning of the "peace times" following World War I, in the beginning of the 1920s. An important text published (in Croatian) by the Center of Historical Research of Rovinj / Rovigno states that from 1920 to 1922, "in a climate of tension and violence" (u klimi napetosti i nasilja), "militant communists were killed, among whom Pietro Ive from Rovinj, ..." (ubijeni su militantni komunisti, a među njima Pietro Ive iz Rovinja, ...). This sentence is followed by the names of a lot of killed communists – all of them being Italians. If Pietro Ive was the first victim, others followed him very soon. Note that the text quoted above comes from one of the most important Istrian Italian organizations.

There are important differences between the Croatian and Italian version of the inscription, and these differences come from the fact that the Istrian Italians and Croates of have always lived their joint history in a contradictory way, the roles of aggressor and victim often changing side.

The Croatian word žrtva is used in two different meanings in this inscription, i.e. žrtva = victim, and žrtva = sacrifice. This should refer to Pietro Ive's personal tragedy, and there is no question of genocide or holocaust.

The Italian version instead, which normally should have the same content as the Croatian one, combines one victim – Pietro Ive – with "l'olocausto" (the holocaust), which generally means "religious immolation of an animal" or "genocide". As there is also the word "fascists", people reading the inscription may easily associate things that are chronologically separated by some twenty years. Nevertheless the Italian fascism already existed in the beginning of the 1920s, and forced italianizations did not arrange things. On the other side – and right or wrong – the Istrian Italians have not been feeling "at home" in Yugoslavia and then Croatia since the beginning, and things like the so-called foibe killings and the Vergarola explosion obviously contributed to make them feel a threatened minority. A real exodus took place, and the remaining resentment might have influenced the wording of the Italian inscription.

If you don't agree with me, please tell me. Thank you in advance!

Bibliography

Using the following links you can see whatever amazon is offering for the respective expressions or books. Arriving in the on-line bookshop, you can use its search function to look for any other words, titles, authors, or ASIN/ISBN numbers. There will never be an obligation to buy anything.

My Personal Suggestions

Searching For Literature

Using the following links to amazon you can find the books you are interested in. On the amazon sites you can retrieve books entering words, titles, authors, or ASIN / ISBN numbers in the related search fields. You will never be obliged to purchase anything if you do not want to.

Internet

Be aware of our legal reservation concerning any Internet reference.

Arrival by Public Transport

For the arrival in Rovinj / Rovigno, see Inscriptions of Rovinj / Rovigno.

Go down the street of the bus station. Arriving on the Trg na Mostu / Piazza del Ponte (Bridge Square), turn to the right and you will soon see our inscription on the right.

Indications concerning the arrival correspond to our personal knowledge or even experience, but we cannot assume any responsibility for their rightness. When you are reading this page, things may have changed in reality.

Hans-Rudolf Hower, 2014

Frequently-asked questions - Webmaster

Last updated: April 2, 2016