Italiano

Roberto Palisca

THE INITIATIVE
“Why expatriates on line”?

(Translation by Ron Ruzic for istrianet.org)

With this page, that we will initially  run once a week," La Voce del Popolo"  plans to offer to our readers, at least a taste, a minute part of the intense  Internet  information interchange that occurs daily amongst the expatriate Fiumani, Istrians and Dalmatians dispersd on all the continents of the globe. Weekly, we will convey from Canada, the United States, South America, Australia, New Zealand, etc. news, informations, invitations, appeals, memoirs, occurrences, photos of yesterday and of today, statements that our emigrants disseminate, daily, on the immensity of the Internet. It will be a dedicated job in editing because it will be difficult to select the material on the various sites available. We believe to do something that will please our readers, especially those that don't yet surf the net: they will perhaps recognize friends, relatives, acquaintances and, through" La Voce",  they can also communicate by sending them messages or simply asking information on facts, events, common friends or other. Simply phone to" La Voce" and our employees will immediately convey your messages online, free of charge. For the connoisseurs that are able to surf the net, we will furnish, from time to tima,new addresses and sites. We hope that this initiative, previously utilized by many expatriates on the net, adds a positive reaction and increasing delight.

In This First Instalment Of «Expatriates ON LINE» we will talk about ISTRIANET

No. Istria is not a virtual space.
It is the shriek of her seagulls scattered in the world.

Indeed, one of the more interesting and more up-to-date sites on the net, extremely rich of news and novelties pertinent to Istria and Istrians scattered around the whole world, is that of Istrianet, the address www.istrianet.org. Nearly a virtual encyclopedia in which all surfers who are interested in Istria and Istrians, the mentality of our people, the traditions, the culture, the history, the songs; but above all the people. One can linger for hours. The importance and on the meaning of Istria for that vast number of her children that have left her, a splendid poem written by the expatriate Franco Aitala, born in Draguccio, in the area of Pisino, resident in Philadelphia, United States, says it all. Translated here in its entirety.

The value of this beautiful site is obviously more than a considerable number of enthusiasts: so many people that today live in all the continents feel a strong connection to their own native land and have so much longing for their Istria. In addition, the commitment of their descendants, children and grandchildren, many of whom were born in foreign countries, who are aware of the importance to keep alive the contact with the land of origin of their fathers, of their mothers, of their grandparents or great-grandparents.

In the introduction of the site, the [creators] of this beautiful initiative, which started in 1998, tell us, with humility: "We are a small group of enthusiastic people from around the world who love Istria. Some of us are Istrian-born while others are of Istrian descent." [About Us]

In this instance, we cannot fail to list the names of the contributors who accomplished this initiative. [Participants List] They are Julian Ardas, the already quoted Franco Aitala [Pennsylvania, USA], John Babich [New York, USA], Dean Banko [Istria], Marija Banko (generation 1935, born in Jakovici, near Tignano, migrated to Australia in the distant 1961 and returned to live in her Istria in 1975), Bogdan Banu [Washington, DC], Martin Floro Bassani (from Vines, nowadays in Pennsylvania), Paolo Benoli [Monfalcone, Italy], Gordon Bevanda [Sweden], Laura Blagoni Plass (born in Pola, now in Germany), Loredana Bogliun [Istria], Guido Braini (age 69, born in Capodistria, migrated in 1955 to Canada, now president of the Giuliano-Dalmato Club of Toronto), Silvana Brkaric-Krculic (poetess from Jesenovik - Iessenoviza, now New York, USA),  professor Edward Brumgnach (teaching informatics  at the  "Queensborough Community College" of the University of New York), the Fiuman Alberto Giuseppe Ciceran, (now in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada), Maria Luisa (Marisa) Ciceran and Giovanna Iurman-Ciceran [now in Manhattan, New York, USA], the poet and  rovignese expatriate  Gianclaudio De Angelini (now in Rome, author of, amongst other works, "Poem of the Exodus in two voices", together with the zaratino  Marino Micich), Ottavio de Manzini [Italy], Mario Demetlica [Adelaide, AU], Bruno Dobric [Istria], Caterina Edwards [Canada], Sergio Fermeglia [New York, USA], Sanja Floricic (now of New York, USA), Mirko Gabler [New York, USA], Vladimiro Gagliardi [Istria], the painter Mario Gasperini (Rovignese, generation 1932, now commuting between London and Milan), Roberta Belulovich-Germaine [New York, USA], Elsa Gregori [Venice, Italy], Piero Grimalda [Arizona, USA], Jim Hilby [USA], Doroteo Honovich [New York, USA], Alida Gasperini-Iaccarino [Rome, Italy], Mario Jelcic [New York, USA], Cecilia Jugalay [USA], Ivan Kalcic (Ontario, CA], Paul Kenul [Germany/Istria] , Ivan Kos [New York, USA), Lucio Krbavac [Canberra, AU], Karlo Kuhar [Istria], Hrvoje Latkovic [New Jersey, USA], Fabio Leonessa [Washingotn, DC, USA), Ondina Lusa [Portorose, SLO)] Alberto Martinuzzi [Italy/Germany], Daniela Liubicich-Massa [New York, USA], Wanda Mezzulli-Scattaro [Istria], Walter Milani [New Jersey, USA], the Albonese Marijan Milevoj, Davor Miskovic [Istria], Bruno Nacinelli [Ontario, CA], Petru Neiescu [Romania], Franko Pavicevac (born in Pisino, now in New York, USA), Pia Pelaschier-Zustovich [New York, USA], Steve Peras (New York, USA/Zurich, Switzerland], Michael Plass [Berlin, Germany], Giuseppe Radossi [Istria], Romano Ruzic [New York, USA], Guido Ruzzier [Italy], Amedeo Sala (Trieste, unfortunately, recently deceased in Australia), Sandro Sambi [Portorose, SLO], Antony Sankovic [Ohio, USA], Louis Santalesa [New York, USA], Milan Saric [Canada], Paul Sergovic [California], Etty Simicich [Seattle, Washington, USA], Roberto Sirola [Kastav, Istria], Davor Sisovic [Istria], Nevio Smilovic [Istria] and Vlado Smilovic (New Jersey, USA], Ferruccio Staffetta [Italy], Frank Tercovich [New Jersey, USA], Nevio Terdoslavich [New York, USA], Alex and Elizabeth Touberoff [Great Britain], Vito and Avelina Teric [New York, USA], Luigi Valenta [New York, USA], Guido Villa [Melbourne, Australia], Boris Zgomba [Canada] and Alex Zlatic.

We point out that some of the founders and other collaborators of Istrianet.org  had a rendezvous in Istria, on 30 July 2000, to meet and get acquainted with each other in the very places where many of them were born, and for the younger, foreign born people, to visit the places of birth of their parents or grandparents.

BRIEF AND INTERESTING SITES

The site http://utenti.lycos.it/militaria has inserted, recently, in its main page the article written a few months ago by our correspondent from Parenzo, Lara Musizza,  entitled " Istria twelve years later: bilingualism is a reality", and the intervention made by the president of the Istrian Region in Cittanova. The author of the site has also made possible the access to the web pages of  EDIT and our daily paper.

At the address http://digilander.iol.it/santaeufemia/manifestazioni/notiziedolorose/sala.htm  notice is given of the loss on 1 April 2002 of Amedeo Sala, born in Trieste, 16 May of 1927 of Ragusan origins, who lived in Zara up to the exile. Having reached Melbourne in 1950, he found employment with  the NASA station of space study at Carnarvon. An expatriate who was also decorated with the Membership of the Order of Australia. He devoted his free time to illustrate a manuscript on the Austro-Hungarian bark "Stephen" that shipwrecked the day 27 October of 1875 when, on the way to Hong Kong, it sank offshore on the  North West Cape, about 900 kilometers north off Perth. Of the crew of 17 men only 10 survived the sea storm. All the shipwrecked perished searching for food and water, except for two who spent three months with the aborigines before being saved. Returning to Ragusa they reported their chronicle to the jesuit father Stephen Scurla, who published their story with a glossary of aboriginal words that the two had learned in the six months at the Cape. The abbot could hardly have imagined the value and the implications of the manuscript, more than one century after its publication in 1876. The triestino Amedeo Sala has transcribed and translated into English the Italian manuscript and submitted it to Dr. Alan Dench, professor at the Languages Center, a known researcher and author of several works regarding the aborigines of the Northwest. "With the objective – as Sala loved to point out - to collect historical documentations regarding the Adriatic lands and to translate them  into English for the purpose of contributing to the safeguard of our cultural heritage for future generations of Australians of Istro-Venetian origins who may not speak Italian.

At the address http://istrianet.org/istria/index1.html appears the first and the second part of a study written by the albonese Tomaso Luciani and published in Pola in 1869 by the printing house "G. Seraschin", that deals about various aspects of the life of the reformer Mattia Flacio Illirico, nephew and follower of Friar Baldo Lupetina. The author claims for the city of Labin / Albona the honour as the birth place of the theological reformer, and briefly outlines his work. In the writing Tomaso Luciani congratulates Ermanno Nacinovich on the the occasion when he "becomes a doctor in both the laws", and devotes the research paper to him. From the conclusive chapters it appears evident how much the city of Labin / Albona was, in the past, interested in allowing its best children to become educated. The brochure has been found by Alberto, grandnephew of the famous Giuseppina Martinuzzi, among the working papers of his Albonese great-grand[aunt].

For those who have lot of nostalgia for Istrian music and of our songs of yesterday and today, always on http://istrianet.org/istria/index1.html [at http://istrianet.org/istria/music] you will find so many very famous songs to download from the computer. Among those titles are "bakalaj mix", "malvasia mix", "polenta mix", that are medleys of songs of our homeland, to the Istro-Venetian "No go the ciave del porton", "Bionda, bella bionda", "Chi che toca la mia morosa", "El tram de Opcina", "Fioi come noi", "La mula de Parenzo", "Val più un bicier de dalmato", "Da Trieste fino Zara". For our grandfathers and grandmothers there is also the option to select the text and the music of the known nursery rhyme "Bati bati le manine". There is also, at the end, a list of more recent songs introduced at the last editions of the Festival of the Melodies of Istria and the Quarnero. The credit for preparation and maintenance of the musical page at istrianet.org goes to Dean Banko from Istria and Marisa Ciceran and Denis Sankovic from the United States, who have been able to provide this rich and multicoloured choice of songs to the visitors of the site thanks to the collaboration with the cultural society "Capris" of Capodistria, "Istrophonia"," My Trieste", the "Fogolar furlan" of Rome, Croatia.net and with other collaborators.

• Roberto Palisca, "L'INIZIATIVA - Perché esuli on line?", La Voce del Popolo - 30 April 2002 - Speciale
• Translation by Ron Ruzic for istrianet.org