Gorizia/Nova Gorica #1

Pot na Breg

Gorizia is a town in north eastern Italy, situated on the Isonzo River north of Trieste. The area, especially around Monte San Michele (274 m) to the southwest, was the scene of heavy fighting between the Austrians and the Italians during World War I, and the town, much damaged, was annexed by Italy in 1919. By treaty in 1947 Yugoslavia received the northern outskirts of the town, and the adjoining Yugoslav town of Nova Gorica was developed. The two towns constitute a conurbation, which also includes the Slovenian municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba.

From the late 1940s onward, Gorizia gave refuge to thousands of Istrian Italians that had fled the regions annexed to Yugoslavia. Many of those settled in the town and had a role in shaping its postwar national and political identity.

Though a border city, Gorizia was only in part crossed by the border with Yugoslavia. Some important old buildings once belonging to Gorizia were included in the Yugoslav territory: these include the old railway station of the Transalpina line that connected Trieste to Villach, as well as some town landmarks. Although the situation in Gorizia was often compared with that of Berlin during the Cold War, Italy and Yugoslavia had good relations regarding Gorizia. These included cultural and sporting events that favoured the spirit of harmonious coexistence that remained in place after Yugoslavia broke up in 1991.

With the breakup of Yugoslavia, the frontier remained as the division between Italy and Slovenia until the implementation of the Schengen Agreement by Slovenia on December 21, 2007. Since May 2011, these three towns have been joined in a common trans-border metropolitan zone, administered by a joint administration board.

These are so many points of interest, please click on the links on the right for the additional ones I visited. I visited this point as part of the IBRG SITEX-23 expedition.

A. Northernmost point

Approaching Gorizia from the north the first POI was easily found. Walking along Pot na Breg the border meets the road at BM#55/29; following the road around from point A to point B and then C, several BM’s are visible against the Italian walls.

Looking north with Italy on the left and Slovenia on the right.

There was added interest on the day we visited as there was a festival taking place with a community road race of various lengths that crossed the border in many places.