Minorities and their characteristics are nowadays a more and more common topic in socio-political contexts. It is also concerned with social geography, as ethnic communities outside the home country are important for the existence and development of a particular nation as a whole. The purpose of the work was to study the situation and the situation of the local Slovene minority community, and more specifically the Slovenes in the municipality of Dolina near Trieste, Italy. The demographic characteristics of Slovenes in Dolina are presented in more detail and how they affect the position of the local minority community. The research approach was based on accessible literature on the Slovenian minority in Italy and on fieldwork. Interviews provided information on the current situation of Slovenes in the area and on conditions such as: linguistic, economic, employment and cultural structure of the population in the municipality, as well as minority and majority relations. The situation of the minority has improved slightly over the last decades in relation to the situation decades ago, when wider historical processes also led to a clear inhibition of the development of the Slovenian ethnic community.
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