Duino

Peninsula near Duino castle

Duino (Slovene: Devin, German: Tybein) is a town at the Adriatic coast in the municipality (comune) of Duino-Aurisina, part of the region of Friuli – Venezia Giulia in the province of Trieste, north-eastern Italy.

The total population is recorded as 8,753 (4,281 males, 4,472 females in 3,753 families), the population density (per square kilometre) as 193.8, and number of housing units as 3,983.

Duino is noted for being the place where the physicist Ludwig Boltzmann died and for inspiring the poet Rainer Maria Rilke to write his Duino Elegies. It is also the place where the famous Slovene folk legend Lepa Vida takes place.^[1]

The two castles are the main attraction. The older castle, dating back to the eleventh century, is in ruins, while the newer castle is inhabited to this day and can be visited by tourists.

Below the ruins of the ancient castle there lies a white rock projecting into the sea, the Dama Bianca, which resembles a veiled woman and gave origin to many gothic legends.

Since 1982 the town has been home to the United World College of the Adriatic, an international school attended by students from 80 different countries.

Until the 1950s, Duino was a predominantly Slovene-speaking village with a sizeable Italian-speaking minority. Before World War I, it used to be one of the centers of Slovene liberal nationalism in the County of Gorizia and Gradisca. During the years of the Free Territory of Trieste (1947–1954), however, its ethnic composition changed considerably, as many Istrian Italians fleeing from Yugoslavia settled in Duino. Nowadays, Duino is a predominantly Italian-speaking town, with a numerous Slovene-speaking minority. Most signs are written in both languages, and the municipality of Duino-Aurisina is an officially bilingual one.

Famous natives and residents include the Slovenian economist Ivan Ples (1886–1958), composer Andrej Volarič (1863–1895), and the Italian Jesuit philologist Gregorio Alasia de Sommaripa (1587–1626), who in 1601 compiled the first Italian-Slovene dictionary.

See also

• Aurisina
• Sistiana
• County of Gorizia and Gradisca
• Austrian Riviera

References

1. ^ http://www.kam.si/izleti/devin_na_skrajnem_severu_sredozemlja.html

External links

• Official Website of the Municipality Duino-Aurisina (Italian, Slovenian)
• Traveller's Guide to Duino and Sistiana
• Chamber of Commerce of Trieste - Duino-Aurisina
• United World College of the Adriatic - Duino

Coordinates: 45°46′N 13°36′E / 45.767°N 13.6°E / 45.767; 13.6