Venetian Slovenia

Slavia Friulana, which means Friulian Slavia (or Beneška Slovenija in Slovenian), is a small mountainous region in northeastern Italy and it is so called because of its Slavic population which settled here in the 8th century AD. The territory is located in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, between the town of Cividale del Friuli and the Slovenian border.

The term Slavia Friulana could possibly be used to refer to all Friulian territories with a Slavic presence, including the municipalities of Lusevera, Taipana, Torreano, Resia and the mountainous areas of the municipalities of Tarcento, Nimis, Attimis, Faedis, Prepotto and Montenars. Despite that, in the last decades the name has been used to indicate the area also known as Valli del Natisone (Natisone Valleys) which was called Antro in the Middle Ages and then Schiavonìa during the Venetian domination: nowadays, the area is divided into the municipalities of San Pietro al Natisone, San Leonardo, Pulfero, Drenchia, Grimacco, Stregna, Savogna.

Since the beginning of the 8th century AD (c. 720), Slavic people settled in this area and in the Middle Ages they would have been called Sclavons. In the early 16th century, the Venetian authorities dubbed this border region of their Republic as Schiavonia Veneta, meaning "Venetian Slav-land". The Venetian words Schiavoni and Schiavonia were general terms used for all South Slavic peoples with which they came in direct contact, Slovenes as well as for Croats and Serbs from Dalmatia. In 1884 the local historian Carlo Podrecca named the area Slavia Italiana, as well as Slovene nationalists in 1875 started to use the toponym Beneška Slovenija (Venetian Slovenia) or Benečija (which means Veneto).

...
Wikipedia