The Trentino bishopric was abolished in 1805 by Napoleon and the region then became part of the kingdom of Bavaria. From 1809 to 1814, however, the Trentino, together with a part of the upper Adige valley, was converted into an Italian administrative district under the name of Dipartimento dell’ Alto Adige. In 1815 the region was assigned to Austria together with Lombardo-Venetia and the Tyrol.
Throughout the eventful history of the present millennium the Tyrol has been the cockpit of Germano-Romance clashes. A lively competition between German and Italian traders has always been maintained within its borders. During the era of religious upheavals, the Germans rallied to the cause of the Reformation while the Italian element remained faithful to the authority of the Vatican. Contact with the Teutonic element appears to have failed, however, to eradicate or modify the Italian character of the region’s life and institutions.[59]
The splendor of the Italian Renaissance stamped its mark on all the Tyrolese districts drained by waters flowing southwards. Castles and churches of the Trentino show the influence of Italian architectural styles. Their interior ornamentation derived its inspiration from the same source. In painting, the Bressanone and Bolzano schools of the fifteenth century likewise maintained Italian traditions in the valley of the upper Adige. Statues and bas-reliefs in the towns of this region also bear witness to the Italian taste of its inhabitants.
All these artistic leanings towards Italy are best observed in Trent itself. The celebrated castle of the “Buen Consiglio” is a blend of Venetian and Veronese styles. Bramante was the architect of the Tabarelli palace, and a disciple of Tullio Lombardo built that of Moar. The Duomo di Trento owes its beauty mainly to the artistic conceptions of the Comacini masters. Some of its frescoes dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are the handicraft of Veronese artists. This Italian influence has been maintained to the present day. A tourist reaching the city will behold Dante’s symbolic statue—the work of Zocchi, a Florentine—immediately upon leaving the main station.[60] Roaming through the city his attention will be attracted by innumerable reminders of modern Italian work of the type seen in the façade of St. Peter’s church. These are concrete manifestations of an intellectual and artistic outflow from the Italian border northward.
Reports on the German propaganda carried on in the Trentino have been made on several occasions to their governments by Italian consular agents.[61] This movement is prosecuted with untiring perseverance by the members of the Tiroler Volksbund, an organization founded in 1905, for the purpose of diffusing German language and customs in southern Tyrol. Schools and other institutions managed by German staffs provide Teutonic education free of cost to the natives. Periodicals and pamphlets are distributed profusely to this end. Lectures setting forth the Germanic origins of Trentino settlements are delivered. A more aggressive method of action consists in sending out “Wanderlehrers” or traveling teachers to give elementary courses from village to village.
Descendants of Rheto-Romans settled in eastern Tyrol speak a language of Latin stock which, in common with other mountain languages, failed to blossom into literature mainly on account of the secluded life of its highland users. The dialect is closely allied to the Friulian. The two form together the western border of the Slovene linguistic area and attain Triest on the south. Lack of written masterpieces tends to weaken the life of the language and it is being replaced by Italian. Concurrently with the growth of the region’s foreign intercourse in modern times invasion of German words can also be detected, though not to the extent of impairing the fundamental Romanic strain.
The Adriatic provinces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are peopled mainly by Italians and Slavs. German and Hungarian elements in the population consist of civil and military officials and of merchants. From an ethnological and linguistic standpoint the maritime district is Italian or Slav according to its elevation. The Romanic stock forms the piedmont populations while the dwellers of the hilly coast chains are of Slavic issue and speech. The western coast of the Istrian peninsula, however, is an area of Italian speech, which is generally confined to urban centers.
The following figures for the population of the Dalmatian islands show the numerical inferiority of the Italians:[62]
| Population according to census of 1910 | Inhabitants speaking Serbo-Croatian dialects | ||||
| Inhabitants speaking Italian | |||||
| Locality | |||||
| Number | Per cent | Number | Per cent | ||
| Lissa, St. Andrea and Busi | 10,041 | 9,939 | 98.98 | 92 | 0.92 |
| Lesina, Spalmadori and Torcola | 16,861 | 16,340 | 96.91 | 494 | 2.92 |
| Curzola, Cazza, Lagosta and adjoining reefs | 21,628 | 21,186 | 97.95 | 436 | 2.01 |
| Stagno district, including Meleda island[63] | 9,424 | 9,393 | 99.67 | 9 | 0.1 |