Udine Travel Forum

Hi,

My husbands father and family were from Udine, Italy. I am having trouble finding much information on this area. Is Udine a region or a city, some information I've found make it sound like a region.

Is Udine on the Austrian border? Also, I found some information stating that the language Friulian is not an Italian dialect, is this correct? If so, what is it considered a mix of Austrian and Italian mixed because of being near the border of Austria? Are there any websites with pictures of Udine and/or surrounding areas?

Sorry for so many questions, my husbands father passed away a few years ago and all we really knew was that Udine was in Northern Italy and the dialect was Friulian. We are planning to go to Italy within the next couple of years and would like to visit there, can you get by with speaking only english?

Also if anyone who responds is from Udine the family name we are looking for is Narduzzi.

Thank you so much for any help.

hi,

udine is a city with it's own province (the area surrounding the city, depending on the city's administration) and part of the region called "friuli venezia giulia" (despite the name, venice is not part of this region, but in the confinig region of veneto).

the province of udine is quite interesting because it goes from the rocky mountains of the north to the sea in the south, where you can see the laguna landscapes tipical of the venice area.

it does indeed share a border with austria, but also with slovenia. during ww2 this area was the battleground of fierce fighting, because this was where the iron curtain began, with italy on one side and the comunist regime of yugoslavia to the east. to make a long story short, italy as a losing nation of the war, had to give up many lands of this region.

this is why so many families coming from that area are now scattered all over the world.

my mother's family was from a city that ended up on the other side of the border, and so when they had to leave their homes, some ended up in rome (that's where i live today) and some ended up in venice, genoa, toronto canada, milwakee united states.

it's a beautiful region, with painful memories.

Here's the city's own web page. It comes also in a Friulian version so that you can study the difference between Italian and Friulian.
http://www.comune.udine.it/opencms/opencms/release/ComuneUdine/index.html?style=1&lang=it

Hi, just to add a little to the comprehensive post above:
Yes, Friulian is a socalled "rhetoromanic", "ladinic" language,that has nothing to do with german, spoken in Austria - but Italian is the most used means of communication. You will more or less easily get by with English,like in most southern countries.
If interested, have a look into Udine`s chamber of commerce listings: there happen to be 30 Narduzzis in Udine, maybe, you will find the one or other relative of your husband! http://www.infoimprese.it/ricerca/risultati.jhtml?cer=1&modalita=+&nome=narduzzi&tabella=SearchDe&provincia=UD
Greetings from Vienna, Austria
WStat

Hi, my father-in-law is from there, too...
Nice land (from Alps to the sea), excellent wines...
Take a look here, too..
http://www.udine-turismo.it/ (then click on the british flag)
Ciao
Francesco

Never heard about "fogolar furlan"?
They are the associations that link everyone in the world originates from Friuli region.
And when i say "everyone" it's nearly literal...
Of course Verona has its own, but you can find a fogolar furlan nearly everywhere in the world.
http://www.regionefvg.com/fogolars/
Ciao
Francesco

Hi everybody!

I just wanted to add that I'm sorry but according to me and people who study languages... friulan is just a dialect. The national language in Italy is Italian only!!! So even if friulan may be important to the people who lives in Fiuli Venezia Giulia they have to admit that it is not a language at all! In Italy we have many dialects that sometimes may look like languages (for example in Sardinia) but no one considers them real languages. That's it!

Greetings from Palermo
Marco

Hi,

according to people, who study languages, the discussion what is considered a "language" and what a "dialect" is still going on!
Maybe you are right for 50 % but not more !
You`ll find very different opinions, like
..."With limited official recognition, Friulian is spoken by perhaps half a million people, mainly in rural areas (including possibly 75% of Udine province), who are in most cases also able to speak Italian (and until recently, Venetian). There are several spoken dialects, and a standard orthography has recently been established. Friulian is the most widely spoken of the Rhaeto-Romance languages, which also include Romansh and Ladin, within the Romance language family (Indo-European)."
As mentioned, Friulian is a Rheto-Roman language and a Rheto-Roman, Ladinic "dialect", if you wish!
Don`t mind, be happy and have a good time!
WStat

There are Italian dialects that differ more than Swedish from Norwegian, which are both considered to be languages. Just an illustration of the fact that the difference between language and dialect is more a political issue than a linguistical one.

Well, it would be fun to have an argument about what is considered a "language", but the government of Italy has already taken it out of our hands. Friulian is officially recognized in Italy with the law 482/1999, which protects linguistic minorities; thus, it is considered a "language" in Italy, even if it is not the official language.

You will see street signs in some places in both Friulian and Italian (see the photo in the middle of the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friulian).

But, it really doesn't matter, because - as noted - nearly every person in this area will speak standard Italian as well, and many (younger) people will speak varying amounts of English, as is becoming more and more typical everywhere in Europe.

You might also read what the locals say about the language at http://www.provincia.udine.it/English/Home/Territory/The%20Language/index.asp

Bill

Thank you, Bertil !

That`s exactly, what I wanted to express (as an also neutral Austrian, but somewhat knowledgeable with regard to Romanic/Ladinic languages and dialects!)
Let it be a dialect for political reasons!
(The two of us seem to miss somewhat the youthful nationalistic enthusiasm!?)

Greetings from Vienna to Sweden!

Willy

"Friulian is officially recognized in Italy with the law 482/1999"

wow bill,
very, very impressive.

luca

Luca, I can't wait until "Romanaccio" gets official recognition ;-)

er meo idioma der monno hahaha

Bill

Oops...that's probably "mejo", not "meo"...gee, can I be forgiven for misspelling a dialect that doesn't have an official spelling? ;-)

Bill

wow...

this guy knows what he's talking about.

Anvedi Bill, ce vo stupě e ce riesse pure!!! ;-)

Ok Ok I didn't mean to offend anybody... and you are right when you say that the real difference between a language and a dialect is just political... but since we have this nation called Italy.. I would prefer to use the official language only cause too many dialects can be confusing and disgragating... anyway I live in Sicily and we are 5 million inhabitants who can speak both Sicilian dialect and Italian... so how would you consider Sicilian???
I still prefer Italian!

Greetings
Bye

Marco, I will definitely agree that the use of standard Italian is a real benefit to foreigners, who can use one language anywhere in the peninsula (most of the time ;-) ). I have a good friend whose family is from Parma, and when he speaks Parmense, I normally have no idea what he's saying...it sounds like a German speaking French (ooops! Did I offend anyone? ;-) )

On the whole, I have found Italians to be extremely nice to foreign visitors (as opposed to foreign residents, whom they expect to speak Italian) who have learned a little Italian and try to use it. More than once, I had an Italian cheerfully try to teach me to improve my grammar - uh, come to think of it, Francesco did that just the other day(!).

Oh well, enough of that. Signora Narduzzi (if that's the name you go by), I hope you have a great time ancestor-hunting...and Italy is a great place to visit even if you don't have any ancestors there(!!!)...

Bill

Lol again, Bill

Bill wrote .... "I have a good friend whose family is from Parma, and when he speaks Parmense, I normally have no idea what he's saying...it sounds like a German speaking French (ooops! Did I offend anyone? ;-) )"

But don't feel bad about this. After all, you are from another side of the world.
I was born and raised in Verona province and if a citizen on one of the Brescia valleys (70/90 kms far, but on the other side of the subtle geographical/historical border of the Lombardia region speaks stric dialect, i don't understand either!
Pota!

Ciao to everybody
Francesco

Hi,

Thank you all for your responses. This is a great source for information, didn't know it existed before.

Has anyone been to Belize?

"Has anyone been to Belize?"

Uh, no...

And please put any questions for Belize in the Belize Forum - you'll get much better responses there (unless some of my Italian compatriots happen to have been to Belize ;-) )...

Bill

Bill, I realize any questions for Belize belong in the Belize forum, I only asked because several people here kindly responded here to my questions on Udine, I figured why not ask people who seem worldly and have done, or have interest in traveling to other places.

Was just being "friendly".

My family is in fact from Udine and our last name is Narduzzi. What information are you trying to obtain? Our family is from a small town named San Daniele. In Friuli, the Narduzzi name is quite prevalent and we may or may not have a connection.

Hello, I sent you a mail abut Udine, including a pic. You can find it in your Virtualtourist mailbox.

Mandi.

Hi Snoskar ---

Yes I did receive it in my e-mail, sent you a lengthly e-mail back, don't know what happened. I very much appreciated your response and would love to see more pictures of Udine if you have some. I'm terribly sorry you must not have received my e-mail, was actually waiting to see if you replied.

Hope to hear from you,

Ciao

Hi,

Just look in our vt-pages for lots of pictures of Udine and the surrounding places ! ( I love the mountains and the lakes )

Wanted also to say something about the 'dialect' Furlan....it's a real language.
Andrea works at the university of Udine and they give lessons in Friulian, there are books in Friulian, there are congresses in Friulian...and it's an official recognized language....like Sardo ( the language of Sardegna ).
In fact..there are some projects together with the universities of Sardegna about these languages.

Janine and Andrea
( tetreus )