Villa Opicina

The railway station in Villa Opicina.

Location of the province of Trieste

Villa Opicina (Slovene: Opčine, Triestine: Opcina) is a village in north-eastern Italy, close to the Slovenian border at Fernetti (Slovene: Slovene: Fernetiči). The first town in Slovenia after the border is Sežana, which is also where the first railway station in Slovenia is located after Villa Opicina.

Villa Opicina is a frazione of the comune of Trieste, the provincial and regional capital.

It is inhabited by a Slovene minority. According to the last Austrian census of 1911, over 89% of the population was of Slovene ethnicity.^[1] In the following decades, this number fell significantly: according to the census of 1971, just above half of the population of the settlement belonged to the Slovene speaking community, while the rest were mostly Italian speakers.^[2] In the last three decades, immigration from the city of Trieste and other predominantly Italian-speaking areas have most probably reduced the Slovene speakers to a minority. However, Slovene language is still widely used in the settlement, both in private and public life. Most of the official signs are in both languages, Italian and Slovene.

Geography

It is located on the Carso Plateau 3 miles north of Trieste, a seaport on the Adriatic Sea.

The railway station serves trains entering Italy from Slovenia, but does not provide a direct service to Trieste. The Opicina Tramway, a unique hybrid tramway and funicular railway links Villa Opicina village with Piazza Oberdan in Trieste city centre. There are also buses which link Villa Opicina rail station, the village center and Trieste.

Name

The name Opicina is of Slovene origin (meaning 'community'), thus being one of the many Italian towns and villages in Friuli-Venezia Giulia with a name of Slavic origin. Before World War I, it used to be known in Italian as Opcina, a name still used in the local Triestine dialect. During the Fascist regime, the name was first Italianized into Villa Opicina, and subsequently renamed to Poggioreale del Carso. In 1966 it was renamed again into Villa Opicina. However, it has been frequently referred simply as Opicina, including in the road signs.

Notes and references

1. ^ Spezialortsrepertorium der Oesterreichischen Laender. VII. Oesterreichisch-Illyrisches Kuestenland. Wien, 1918, Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei
2. ^ P. Stranj, La comunità sommersa (Trieste: Editoriale Stampa Triestina, 1992).

Coordinates: 45°41′15″N 13°47′19″E / 45.6875°N 13.78861°E / 45.6875; 13.78861