Venezia Giulia and Dalmatia: geography and the relationship with the Slavs at the University of Padua after the First World War

The issue of the Italian eastern border after World War I has interested many Italian, Slovenian and Croatian scholars in the field of politics and diplomatic relations. It is known that Italy's diplomatic failure at Versailles in 1919 led to the rise of D'Annunzio's nationalism, which was entirely adopted by Fascism. The question of the Italian eastern border was provisionally resolved in 1920 but its final conclusion came with the Treaty of Rome signed in 1924 concerning the partition of the Free State of Fiume. During this period several Italian intellectuals contributed to the political debate on borders. Before, during and after the war, the city of Padua was one of the main centres of Italian democratic irredentism. Within its university, some professors influenced students through their lectures and historical‑geographical teaching and set a basis for a new kind of knowledge, in between populism and scientific instances. With this contribution, the author considers some particular cases that during the First World War and immediately afterwards exposed their positions through their academic teaching. Among these, the liberal‑patriotic Friulian geographers Arrigo Lorenzi and Francesco Musoni, both professors in Padua, affirming that Italy should reach its natural borders along the Alpine ridge as far as the Istrian and, for Musoni, Dalmatian mountains. Noteworthy at a time, when nationalism pitted peoples against each other, they considered Slavic culture as a natural and historical characteristic of north‑eastern Italy: even if they affirmed it had been used by the Germans to annihilate Italian culture, it should not be eliminated but integrated jointly with the creation of friendly relations with the Kingdom of SCS. Despite their ideas, history would turn out differently. Their example, however, bears witness to the fact that in intellectual circles and in higher education in Italy after the Great War, in particular among geographers, there was a minority aiming at a peace that went beyond nationalism and was based on study and knowledge regarding neighbouring countries.