Triestine Serbs
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 15,000 (2011) | |
| Languages | |
| Serbian, Italian | |
| Religion | |
| Serbian Orthodox Church |
Triestine Serbs (Serbian Cyrillic: Тршћански Срби / Tršćanski Srbi; Italian: Serbi Triestini) are the indigenous ethnic Serbs of Trieste, present in the city since the 18th century. They were a primary force behind the economic dominance of Trieste during the Habsburg period.
Serb merchants and ship-owners established a community in Trieste at the start of the 18th century, most primarily originating from Sarajevo, Trebinje, and the Bay of Kotor. In 1751 Maria Theresa of the Austro-Hungarian Empire proclaimed religious freedom in the city, and the Serbs and Greeks of Trieste built the Saint Spyridon church that same year. The most influential of the wealthy Serbian merchants of the time were the Kurtović, Gopčević, Vojnović, and Miletić families, who owned most the structures and dock area of the "Porto Vecchio" (Old Port). In 1766 Trieste's Serbs numbered 50, by 1780 they grew to 200.
In 1782 the Serbian community of Trieste began expressing its desire for a Serbian-language day school, a place for their children to be passed down Serbian culture and language. Jovan Miletic, a wealthy Serb merchant in Trieste, donated 24,000 florins to build a Serbian Elementary School in 1787. On July 1, 1792 the local government approved its opening and the "Jovan Miletic" private school began official operation, located in the city centre, right beside the Saint Spyridon Church. A night school and reading room were opened in 1911. In 1911 an asylum was added to the school, for Serbian political refugees, due to the constant warfare and bloodshed occurring between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires on the Balkan peninsula. The school represented a pillar of the Serbian community of Trieste, where the children of the wealthy Serbian merchants went to school and integrated into the city's community. In 1973 the school was shut down due to lack of student enrollment and became a Sunday school for Serbian language and culture. Velimir Djerasimović, the school's principal and teacher since 1927, retired in 1973. Djerasimović is the father of Italian film actors Ivan Rassimov and Rada Rassimov.
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