Montemitro
Encyclopedia
Montemitro is a small town and comune
in the province of Campobasso
in the Molise
region of Italy
, near the Trigno
river.
Like Acquaviva Collecroce
and San Felice del Molise
, Montemitro is home to a community of Molisian Croats
, most of whom speak a particular Croatian dialect
(they call it simply naš jezik, or "our language") as well as Italian
.
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the province of Campobasso
Campobasso
-Main sights:The main attraction of Campobasso is the Castello Monforte, built in 1450 by the local ruler Nicola II Monforte, over Lombard or Norman ruins. The castle has Guelph merlons and stands on a commanding point, where traces of ancient settlements have been found...
in the Molise
Molise
Molise is a region of Southern Italy, the second smallest of the regions. It was formerly part of the region of Abruzzi e Molise and now a separate entity...
region of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, near the Trigno
Trigno
The Trigno is an 85 km Italian river. It originates in the Apennine Mountains, in the province of Isernia and flows into the Adriatic Sea near Vasto. It also forms the border between the regions Abruzzo and Molise.-See also:...
river.
Like Acquaviva Collecroce
Acquaviva Collecroce
Acquaviva Collecroce is a small town and comune in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise region of southern Italy, between the Biferno and Trigno rivers....
and San Felice del Molise
San Felice del Molise
San Felice del Molise is a small town and comune in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy, near the Trigno river....
, Montemitro is home to a community of Molisian Croats
Molise Croats
Molise Croats live in the Molise region of Italy in the villages Acquaviva Collecroce , San Felice del Molise , Montemitro and elsewhere. In these three villages they are a majority. There are about 5,000 speakers of the Molise Croatian dialect...
, most of whom speak a particular Croatian dialect
Molise Croatian dialect
Molise Croatian dialect is a Croatian dialect spoken in the province of Campobasso, in the Molise Region of southern Italy, in the villages of Montemitro , Acquaviva Collecroce and San Felice del Molise...
(they call it simply naš jezik, or "our language") as well as Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
.
Culture
- Granted an Honorary Consulate by CroatiaCroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. - The patron saint of Montemitro is Saint LuciaSaint LucySaint Lucy , also known as Saint Lucia, was a wealthy young Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint by Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. Her feast day in the West is 13 December; with a name derived from lux, lucis "light", she is the patron saint of those who are...
; the church dedicated to her is the church of Santa Lucia Vergine e Martire. - However, the town does not celebrate the feast of Saint Lucia on its customary date (December 13), but rather on the first and last Fridays of May. This honors the crossing of the Adriatic SeaAdriatic SeaThe Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
to Italy in the 15th century by the town's ancestors; they are believed to have carried a statue of Saint Lucia with them, arriving in Italy on a Friday in May. - The language of the three cities is considered an endangeredEndangered languageAn endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
diaspora languageDiaspora languageThe term diaspora language, coined in the 1980s, is a sociolinguistic idea referring to a variety of language spoken in a place of migration. For example, the great number of Hindi speakers in the United Kingdom has produced a strain of the language unlike that spoken on the Indian subcontinent...
.
External links
- UNESCO Red Book on endangered languages and dialects: Europe
- The coat of arms of Montemitro
- Mundimitar.it