ABSTRACT
The territory which currently stretches across the Italian-Slovenian border belonged to the Habsburg Empire at the start of the First World War. The aftermath of that conflict resulted in a shift to the east of the Italian political border for 20 years, encompassing areas populated by Italians, Slovenes, and Croats. The Italian eastern border articulates the area between the northern end of the Adriatic Sea and the point of separation between waters flowing into the Mediterranean and those reaching the Black Sea. In the Littoral, the majority of the foreigners were workers residing in the Italian border region of Friuli, seasonal migrants involved in construction work between March and November. Friuli was politically divided between the newly formed Italian People’s Party, the Socialists and the Liberals, with little support for the Fascists. The most evident and visually imposing intervention, however, was the construction and 1938 inauguration of the monumental memorial and ossuary of Redipuglia.
