Gorizia

Gorizia (Slovenian: Gorica, German: G?rz, Friulian: Gurize) is a small town (pop. 40,000) at the foot of the Alps, in northeastern Italy, on the border with Slovenia. It is the capital of Gorizia province, and is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. The town has an 11th century fortress, a Gothic cathedral (14th century, rebuilt 17th century), and the Church of St. Ignatius (1680-1725).

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Originally a watchtower or a prehistoric castle, Gorizia soon became a little village near the fords of the river Isonzo. It was not far from one of the most important Roman travelways linking Aquileia and Emona (Ljubljana). The name of Gorizia was for the first time recorded in a document dated April 28 1001: "quae sclavonica lingua vocatur Goritia". This stated the donation of the castle and village of Gorizia made by Emperor Otto III to Patriarch Giovanni II and to Count Verihen. Since the 11th century the town had two different development plans: the castellan hamlet or superior land and the village or inferior land. The first played a political-administrative role and the second a rural-commercial role. In the 16th century the county passed to Austrian Habsburg rule and the city spread out at the foot of the castle becoming, in the middle of the 18th century, an archepiscopal see with jurisdiction over the diocesis of Trieste, Trento, Como, and Pedena. Around the Baroque cathedral where many treasures of the Basilica of Aquileia had been transferred, a new quarter developed; it had a typically 18th century appearance and inside there was also a synagogue, one of the many examples of the town's multi-ethnic nature.

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Gorizia was seriously damaged by both World War I and World War II. After the latter its territory was reduced and divided between Italy and Slovenia as a border city.

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Slovenian: The terms Slovenian and Slovene refer to anything related to Slovenia and its inhabitants. Both have been used for a long time in English. A Slovenian Canadian scholar Edward Gobetz claims that the shorter form was carried over into English through French, once the language of diplomacy and that th...

German: German may mean:...

Friulian: REDIRECT Friulian language...