By In Trieste
A document on the transfer of ownership of Narodni Dom to the Slovene minority was signed in Trieste today, July 13, a hundred years after the fascist arson, in the presence of Slovenian and Italian presidents, Borut Pahor and Sergio Mattarella.
The two awe-inspiring flags in Piazza Unità this morning, many police cars and closed for pedestrians cross-walks were forecasting something big was about to happen in Trieste. It is indeed a grand day for Trieste’s multicultural community as Narodni Dom, the former center for Slovene minority in Trieste, which included a theater, a hotel, and numerous cultural associations, is restituted to the Slovenian community after being burned down and occupied by the fascists in 1920.
Italian president Mattarella and Slovenian president Pahor came to Trieste to pay tribute to the fallen in WWII and to officially restitute Narodni Dom to the Slovenian minority.
The document was signed by the representatives of Italian authorities at several levels, the rector of the University of Trieste and the president of both umbrella organizations of the Slovenian minority in Italy. Borut Pahor remarked the signing of the document as a centennial act and a historic event. “Injustice has been rectified, justice has been served,” he stressed after signing. He added that it was a well-deserved victory for all those who have believed in compassion, respect and a united Europe for hundreds of years.
The former Narodni Dom in Via Fabio Filzi in Trieste, is the current headquarters of the Modern Languages Studies Section for Interpreters and Translators (SSLMIT) of the University of Trieste.
