ABSTRACT
Bolzano, the main city of South Tyrol (territory in the north of Italy bordering Austria), does not sound or look typically Italian. Indeed, this town belonged to the Habsburg Empire for centuries and almost all of its population was German-speaking until the 1920s. After World War I, South Tyrol became part of Italy, and since then Italian-and German-speaking populations have lived side by side in the same province. This situation has mainly affected the big cities of South Tyrol, such as Merano, Bressanone, and Bolzano, where the Italian-speaking population has been concentrated. Large cities, in particular, have mixed populations and are the main areas of German-Italian coexistence. Bolzano has become an ethnically mixed city; in 2001 73% of its 94 989 inhabitants spoke Italian as native language, and 26% were German speaking. For most of the territory of South Tyrol, the proportion between the Italian and the German linguistic groups is inverted, and the Italian linguistic group is in the minority. In 2001, South Tyrol overall counted 462 999 inhabitants, and the Italian linguistic group represented 26% of the population (see Table A1 in Appendix). 1
