Montemitro (also called ''Mundimitar'') is a small town and ''
comune'' in the
province of Campobasso
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...
in the
Molise region of
Italy, near the
Trigno river.
Like
Acquaviva Collecroce and
San Felice del Molise
San Felice del Molise (also called ''Filić'' or ''Štifilić'') is a small town and ''comune'' in the province of Campobasso in the Molise region of Italy, near the Trigno river.
Like Acquaviva Collecroce and Montemitro, San Felice del Molise i ...
, Montemitro is home to a community of
Molisian Croats, most of whom speak a particular
Croatian dialect (they call it simply ''naš jezik'', or "''our language''") as well as
Italian.
Culture
Montemitro was granted an Honorary Consulate by
Croatia.
The patron saint of Montemitro is
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...
; the church dedicated to her is the church of Santa Lucia Vergine e Martire. However, the town does not celebrate the feast of Saint Lucia on its customary date (December 13), but rather on the first and last Fridays of May. This honors the crossing of the
Adriatic Sea to Italy in the 15th century by the town's ancestors; they are believed to have carried a statue of Saint Lucia with them, arriving in Italy on a Friday in May.
The language of the three cities is considered an
endangered diaspora language.
See also
*
Molise Croats
References
External links
UNESCO Red Book on endangered languages and dialects: EuropeMundimitar.it
Cities and towns in Molise
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