Free Territory of Trieste

About Free Territory of Trieste

The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between Italy and Yugoslavia (modern day Croatia and Slovenia), facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II. It existed for seven years.

The territory was established on 10 February 1947, by a protocol of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral independent country. The intention was also to cool down territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia, due to its strategic importance for trade with Central Europe. It came into existence on 15 September 1947. Its administration was divided into two areas: one being the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the northwest (Zone A); the other (Zone B) was formed by a small portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula.

The territory was de facto dissolved in 1954 and given to Italy (Zone A) and Yugoslavia (Zone B). This created a border dispute which was only settled twenty years later with the signing of the bilateral Treaty of Osimo in 1975, which was ratified in 1977.

The city of Trieste and the territory of Zone A is today under the control of Italy and its Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the area of Zone B is today under the control of Slovenia and Croatia.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.