Page 130 - Dark Shades of Istria
P. 130
Memories and Dark Tourism in Istria
practice was identified also in Istria, although this triggers many polemics
in the society/media – see for example Černjul (2009). La voce del popolo
(‘Virginia Raggi in visita a Trieste e in Istria’, 2018) reported that Virginia
Raggi, the Mayoress of Rome, visited with a group of students and their
professors some (dark) memorial sites in Friuli Venezia Giulia region and
Istria as part of the ‘Memory – the Drama of the Italian Eastern Border
between Foibe and Exodus’ project (Memoria – Il dramma del confine
orientale italiano tra foibe e esodo). In addition, as part of the ‘journey of
remembrance and reconciliation’ to Istria, Istrian, Fiuman and Dalma-
tian migrants from Italy, representatives of the Italian minority in Slove-
nia, some municipal councillors and the vicar of the Koper Diocese, per-
formed a brief commemoration at the monument from Figure 6.12. The
journey also included visits of selected monuments to victims of the fas-
cist violence (sta, 2012). Hence, in October 2018, on the occasion of the
10th anniversary of the beatification of Francesco Bonifacio, a pilgrimage
of believers from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trieste to Istria – Grožn-
jan, Krasica and Strunjan – was organised (Diocesi di Trieste, 2018); the
area where Bl. Bonifacio was born, lived, worked as a priest and was mys-
teriously liquidated. All these journeys have all the characteristics of con-
temporary dark tourism activities. However, similar, if not the same, but
non-polemic activities are carried out by Istrian anti-fascists in coopera-
tion with local elementary and secondary schools, i.e. pupils of the Buzet
schools traditionally visit Pazin and some of the villages burned in wwi i,
as well as the birthplace of Josip Broz Tito, Franjo Tuđman, the Memorial
of the revolt of peasants and Matija Gubec. This way they are familiarised
with some historical figures, events and sites important for the Croatian
people (Čalić Šverko, 2018c).
Some dissonant dark sites, such as the foibe, are very characteristic for
Istria,⁴⁶ although the records are not uniform due to the influence of vari-
ous extremist political movements, and the covering of different periods,
e.g. the map of the extremist Lega Nazionale (Lega Nazionale, n.d.) is not
coherent with the map used by Garibaldi (2022).⁴⁷ On the other hand,
the official register and map of concealed mass graves in Slovenia, man-
aged by the Military Cemeteries Administration within the Ministry of
⁴⁶ They can be found also in some other parts of Western Slovenia.
⁴⁷ In the absence of official data on the field approach and record keeping method, there
are reasonable doubts about the credibility of records and maps, although no one denies
their existence today.
130
practice was identified also in Istria, although this triggers many polemics
in the society/media – see for example Černjul (2009). La voce del popolo
(‘Virginia Raggi in visita a Trieste e in Istria’, 2018) reported that Virginia
Raggi, the Mayoress of Rome, visited with a group of students and their
professors some (dark) memorial sites in Friuli Venezia Giulia region and
Istria as part of the ‘Memory – the Drama of the Italian Eastern Border
between Foibe and Exodus’ project (Memoria – Il dramma del confine
orientale italiano tra foibe e esodo). In addition, as part of the ‘journey of
remembrance and reconciliation’ to Istria, Istrian, Fiuman and Dalma-
tian migrants from Italy, representatives of the Italian minority in Slove-
nia, some municipal councillors and the vicar of the Koper Diocese, per-
formed a brief commemoration at the monument from Figure 6.12. The
journey also included visits of selected monuments to victims of the fas-
cist violence (sta, 2012). Hence, in October 2018, on the occasion of the
10th anniversary of the beatification of Francesco Bonifacio, a pilgrimage
of believers from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trieste to Istria – Grožn-
jan, Krasica and Strunjan – was organised (Diocesi di Trieste, 2018); the
area where Bl. Bonifacio was born, lived, worked as a priest and was mys-
teriously liquidated. All these journeys have all the characteristics of con-
temporary dark tourism activities. However, similar, if not the same, but
non-polemic activities are carried out by Istrian anti-fascists in coopera-
tion with local elementary and secondary schools, i.e. pupils of the Buzet
schools traditionally visit Pazin and some of the villages burned in wwi i,
as well as the birthplace of Josip Broz Tito, Franjo Tuđman, the Memorial
of the revolt of peasants and Matija Gubec. This way they are familiarised
with some historical figures, events and sites important for the Croatian
people (Čalić Šverko, 2018c).
Some dissonant dark sites, such as the foibe, are very characteristic for
Istria,⁴⁶ although the records are not uniform due to the influence of vari-
ous extremist political movements, and the covering of different periods,
e.g. the map of the extremist Lega Nazionale (Lega Nazionale, n.d.) is not
coherent with the map used by Garibaldi (2022).⁴⁷ On the other hand,
the official register and map of concealed mass graves in Slovenia, man-
aged by the Military Cemeteries Administration within the Ministry of
⁴⁶ They can be found also in some other parts of Western Slovenia.
⁴⁷ In the absence of official data on the field approach and record keeping method, there
are reasonable doubts about the credibility of records and maps, although no one denies
their existence today.
130
