South Tyrol - Italian German Culture Clash

The close ties the region of the South Tyrol had with Germany was not something that went un-noticed by Mussolini and certainly did not meet his approval. Yet despite efforts by Mussolini to remove any trace of German origin, the Germanic traditions, culture and language have remained a part of this region to this day.

The lengths Mussolini went to to prevent this were extensive. The dictator Italianised not only the names of the towns, mountains and rivers but even went as far as to force the South Tyrolean people to adopt Italian family names. Schools were forbidden to teach in German and huge numbers of Italians were sent into the region to run both the government and industries as well as to tip the ethnic balance within the population.

The South Tyroleans, however insisted on clinging steadfastly to their cultural heritage, turning in the 1960’s to acts of terrorism in an attempt to gain more autonomy for the province. Today the atmosphere is once again peaceful as Italians and Germans live side by side accepting and even appreciating each other’s differences in a region which is now officially bilingual.