THE SAFETY OF GORIZIA MUST BECOME A REGIONAL, NATIONAL AND EUROPEAN ISSUE

by MARZIO LAMBERTI

Past

ROLE. In the During the 19th century, Gorizia became a major industrial center, connected to the port of Trieste with the major industrial investments of Piedimonte and Straccis, and the commercial center of a vast province. On the eve of the First World War, it had 30,000 inhabitants.

First World War: Italy enters the war against the Habsburg Empire. Gorizia will be its epicenter. Around it, eight hundred thousand dead; a city entirely destroyed. Of the thirty thousand inhabitants, when the Italians enter the city, four thousand remain; the rest are all refugees.

Post-war: At the end of the war, Gorizia’s population returned to just over 20,000: the Austrians had vanished, along with part of the Slovenian and Friulian population. The city was a work in progress, rebuilding 80% of the destroyed homes. But within twenty years, the city grew to 45,000 inhabitants, half of whom came from various regions, especially the south. The city changed: it was called an “ethnic metamorphosis.”

ROLE. The city becomes a military base: both a bulwark against the Slavs (see the shape of the Oslavia shrine, a fortress facing east) and a launching pad for the conquest of the Balkans. Gorizia fills with thousands of soldiers. Its population exceeds 45,000. It finds its role and purpose.

Second World WarItaly enters the war against France, Great Britain, the USSR, the USA, etc. Gorizia becomes the rear base for the attack on Yugoslavia on April 6, 1941. Thanks to our honorary citizen Benito Mussolini, the city pays a very high price: the destruction of the entire Jewish community, the hundreds and hundreds of fallen partisans (in the Slovenian districts, the fallen amount to almost 10% of the population), the deportations to concentration camps and extermination camps in Germany and at Risiera, the Allied bombings, the presence of foreign troops, and fascist gangs. And then, finally, the deportations to Yugoslavia.

Post-war: A destroyed city grappling with the question of its belonging to the state. Above all, the threat of the Cold War and the division of the world between good and evil. Gorizia is at the center of all this, one of the victims of the fascist adventure. It loses its province, which was its raison d’être; for the first time, it faces a border that runs through its homes and severs ties, friendships, family relationships, interests, and trade. The tragedy of the deportations by the Germans and the Yugoslavs affects everyone and creates a climate of mutual hatred and suspicion that pervades the city to this day. And then comes the loss of the Slovenian periphery with the new borders and the arrival of several thousand exiles, creating further tensions. Wall to wall. A rift that cuts across everything: within families, between Italians and Slovenians, between political parties, between unions, between the suburbs and the center, in the lives of everything and everyone. And each side – still today – remembers its own dead separately, elaborates its own memory, creates its own monuments: on the outskirts those to the partisans, in the heart of the city those to the deportees.

ROLE. Beginning in the 1960s, recovery began, thanks to the Free Zone and the new opportunities afforded by the border, with the development of road transport and the border economy. Gorizia became a showcase city for the West and, in many cities, a sentry with large numbers of soldiers. And relations within the city and with Nova Gorica slowly returned to normal. The city thus grew until the 1980s. Having become a national political issue, it consolidated its development due to the political/military/strategic role assigned to it. The Regular Plan envisions a city of 80,000 inhabitants.

Present

But then, with the 1990s, Europe’s entry into a new phase led to the exhaustion of the Free Zone’s incentives, the loss of its role as a showcase city. From 1947 to 1989, as long as there was a question of the “eastern border ” in national politics, Gorizia is at the centre of the interests of the Italian government, just as Nova Gorica is at the centre of the interests of the then Yugoslavia.

The “eastern border” has disappearedAs a national political issue, interest in this area is waning. With European integration, the free zone disappears. Factories located here no longer enjoy customs benefits. During the 1980s, the factories disappear, and worker employment drops from 5,000 to 500. The border disappears, and with it, the customs agents, truck drivers, and freight forwarders. At least a thousand jobs are lost. With the end of compulsory military service in the 1990s, the military also disappears. Over a thousand families leave.

Growth centers are disappearing. Only new university campuses are creating, only partially, vitality. Consequently, in recent decades, Gorizia has lost ten thousand inhabitants (from 44,000 in the early 1970s to the current 34,000, of which 4,000 live abroad). Today, it has 30,000 inhabitants, the same as in 1914. A quarter are no longer there.

Future

But Gorizia has transformed itself from a border town to a central city. This is the new scenario. The On June 26, 1991, Slovenia became independent; on May 1, 2004, it joined the European Union. On December 20, 2007, it joined the Schengen Area. In 2007, it adopted the euro. The old world is gone. The Cold War, hatred, borders… are gone. Overcome. A new hope is born for the city. No longer a city along a border, but a city at the center of gravity between east and west, between the south (the ports) and the north. It seems like the dawn of a new era. GO 25 is the seal of this new climate. We must start again from here. A century has passed. A terrible century. And it took a century to at least partially heal its wounds. But after a century, today, We’re once again faced with having to find a role, a function, a future capable of reversing the city’s decline. GO 25 isn’t enough. There’s a risk that after the year, everything will go back to how it was before. , without prejudice to the many works that have beautified the city and made it more functional, but which do not create new jobs. This risks the emergence of old and new appetites, such as the region being split in two or three, with Gorizia absorbed by Trieste, as is already the case in the healthcare and economic sectors.

A new ROLE for the city

This is why the city’s salvation and recovery depend on identifying a role it doesn’t currently have: a role that brings jobs and oxygen to a city that is depopulating and aging.

Gorizia must become a regional and national case study. The State, Region, EU, financial and trade bodies, the Chamber of Commerce, and investors must sit down with the Mayor to discuss the city’s future and its role. In short, a Marshall Plan for the city. Define what Gorizia can do for the region and beyond. Otherwise, Gorizia will die. The many proposals of all kinds that we hear every day are often very interesting exercises that don’t address the main issue: identifying the actors capable of operating directly on the ground and investing resources. This is the crux of the matter. The proposals put forward every day must be connected to the operators. public and private investors and those who want and need to invest, otherwise they remain just intellectual exercises.

So what to do? We need a rebirth project, a Marshall Plan., which only the combined forces of the region and the state, along with private centers, can implement. This was done for Friuli in the aftermath of the earthquake. Overcoming jealousies and hegemonies and recognizing that development is either harmonious or not, and that development for all is the only possible development. You can’t let a city die slowly. It’s about identifying a path to development, not measures to “routine maintenance . ” Gorizia alone cannot generate concrete impetus, feasible programs, resources, or a leadership. Gorizia is experiencing a long period of decline. Therefore, a few necessary interventions to plug a few gaps are not enough. Much more is needed. Gorizia (first and foremost the Mayor) must convince the Regional Institution, the universities, the Government, other regional institutions, and business associations that the development and growth of Friuli Venezia Giulia must be based on solidarity across the entire territory to support the areas most at risk of decline. Gorizia must ask the Region to take on the role of as a regional, national and European objective of consolidating Gorizia and its development opportunities.

But governance is needed That it is at the level of these problems. That it is capable of initiating projects and interventions, of mobilizing both public and private institutions to answer the question: what purpose does the city serve, what can it serve for the region and the country. And for Europe. It is a matter of pooling all energies to identify a development strategy. Gorizia alone, with its white-collar and small-scale retail structure (see the “inverted pyramid”), is incapable of planning its own future. We need a body capable of developing a project for Gorizia. We need a body capable of engaging the State, Region, University, private sector, and the European Union in identifying a role and function for Gorizia. AND ABOVE ALL, A BOARD THAT WILL ATTRACT NEW RESIDENTS. Gorizia is a quarter empty.

The inverted population pyramid

According to municipal data, the resident population as of 12/31/2023 is 33,547 inhabitants, of which 3,680 are residents abroad (AIRE voters voting abroad), so the residents in the city are 29,867.

The workforce is less than half the population. It is primarily made up of private and public employees (healthcare workers, teachers, and government officials) and freelancers. A portion is involved in small-scale retail trade and artisanal activities (mostly family businesses). Very few medium-sized industrial and service industries exist. This demographic and labor structure is incapable of generating significant activities and investments that could bring development to the city. Left as it is, Gorizia is dying. Slowly and painlessly.

Seniors aged 65-75: there are 5,408 (16.1%). Over 75s: there are 4,173 (12.5%). In total, there are 9,581 over 65s (28.6%).

Young people aged 0-18: there are 4,331 (12.9%) of which 2,664 (7.9%) are aged 0-11

Young people aged 18-24: there are 2,092 (6.2%)

Active part 24-64: there are 17,543 units (52.4%) to which must be added the young people under 24 and the elderly over 65 who work but we must subtract the 3,680 (10.9%) Gorizia residents abroad, mostly of working age.

PS: from the DUP 2026-2028 data it appears that the residents as of 01/01/25 are 33,666.