ABSTRACT
This essay traces the history of the Italian word foiba, analyzing how its meaning has changed, from a Karstic sinkhole to a common grave, over the second half of the twentieth century, to then become the symbol of the tragedy of the exodus of the Italian-speaking population from the Venezia-Giulia region, and of the identity of those who became exiles. Adopting a genealogical approach, my aim is to show how such a process of re-signification is connected to a continuous polemical process of mediation and articulation. Such a process was (partly) interrupted with the inclusion, in 2004, of the Venetian-Giulian diaspora within Italian public memory, thanks to the institution of the Giorno del ricordo (‘Day of Remembrance’), and the resulting inclusion of the memory of the exiled in the Italian public sphere. Finally, the essay proposes the thesis that foiba is a politically untranslatable term because it points to a linguistic-cultural horizon that is intrinsic to the production of national identity.
