Aiello and Joannis: cycling in Habsburg Friuli

In 1420, the end of Patria del Friuli at the hands of the Venetian Republic increased the conflict between the latter and the Habsburg Empire which, in turn, had territorial claims on the former properties that the Patriarchs had owned for centuries. Thus, in the 16th century, Friuli was divided into two distinct parts until the end of World War I. Located in the County of Gorizia and Gradisca, the towns of Aiello and Joannis were in the Austrian part of Friuli, right on the border with the Venetian territories and later, from 1866, with the Italian territories. The feelings of loyalty and patriotism that the people of eastern Friuli had always had for Austria and the Habsburgs did not end after unification. On the contrary, the repression by the Italian State on these territories after World War I somehow fuelled them to the point that, even today, after over a century, the myth of the Empire has not completely died out.