Intemelio is a Ligurian dialect spoken historically from the

Principality of Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a semi-enclave borde ...

to the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

province of

Imperia Imperia (; or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Mussolini create ...

History

Since the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

the Ligurian language was spoken in all the territories of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

; in the western area of the Republic one of its groups (spoken mainly on the coast between Monaco and Sanremo) was called ''Intemelio'' and was centered on

Ventimiglia Ventimiglia (; , ; ; ) is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located west of Genoa, and from the French-Italian border, on the Gulf of Genoa, having a small harbour at the mouth of the Roia river, w ...

. In the actual Italian area of Ventimiglia there is the most renowned ''Intemelio'': the "Ventimigliese", that stretches from the coast until

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. The

Royasc Royasc is a dialect bridging the gap between the Ligurian language and the Occitan language. It is spoken in Italy and France. Area of use The Royasc dialect is spoken in the Upper Roya valley, at the boundary of France and Italy. In France, i ...

dialect is connected to the "Ventimigliese", as a mountainous version of the ''Intemelio'' that has some

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

influences. In Sanremo the local intemelio dialect is heavily influenced by the Genoese dialect.

Current use

Intemelio is used by nearly 10,000 people in the area of

of the

province of Imperia The province of Imperia (; ; ) is a mountainous and hilly Provinces of Italy, province in the Liguria region of Italy, situated between France to the north and the west, and the Ligurian Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Its capi ...

, but other 40,000 are able to understand it and speak a few sentences of this dialect in western

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

. A few thousand speak fluently the local variants of Intemelio in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

: Monegasque, and Brigasc.

Anecdote

The Ligurian area of Seborga speaks the "Ventimigliese" dialect ''Intemelio'' and the so-called Principality of Seborga considered the possibility of using this dialect as the official language.

References

Bibliography

* Azaretti, Emilio. ''L'evoluzione dei dialetti liguri''. Sanremo: Edizioni Casabianca, 1982. Pp. xxii + 416. * Dalbera, Jean-Philippe. ''Les Ilots Liguriens de France, dans Les Langues de France sous la direction de B. Cerquiglini''. (Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France). Presses Universitaires de France. Paris, 2003. pp. 125–136 * Devoto, Giovanni. ''I Dialetti delle Regioni d'Italia''. Sansoni Editore. Florence, 1971 * Toso, Fiorenzo. ''Liguria linguistica. Dialettologia, storia della lingua e letteratura nel Ponente''. Philobiblon. Ventimiglia, 2006 * Werner Forner. ''À propos du ligurien intémélien - La côte, l’arrière-pays''. . Travaux du Cercle linguistique de

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionSanremo by Brigati Glauco, from Review ''La voce intemelia''.

External links