Le varietà tedesche dell’Alto Adige – Südtirol

This article aims to describe the complex linguistic and sociolinguistic situation of Alto Adige – Südtirol, officially named Autonomous Province of Bolzano – Bozen with a focus on the varieties of German spoken there as first language. The territory, which is officially trilingual as it hosts the Ladin minority in Val Gardena and Val Badia besides the Italian speakers, became part of Italy in 1919 as “spoils of war” after Austrian defeat in the First World War. The division of the ancient historical region of Tyrol meant a subsequent difficult period of forced Italianization, imposing Italian on German in names, toponyms and daily life. Only the determination of the local population and their affection to their language and culture has preserved – even if not always with peaceful means – the survival of the Austrian dialects and traditions and has led to the modern forms of safeguarding and cohabitation which make of this province of Northern Italy one of the strongest linguistic minorities in all Europe.