The Treaty of Rome was agreed on 27 January 1924, when

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

agreed that

Fiume Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and in 2021 had a po ...

would be annexed to Italy as the

Province of Fiume The Province of Fiume (or Province of Carnaro) was a province of the Kingdom of Italy from 1924 to 1943, then under control of the Italian Social Republic and German Wehrmacht from 1943 to 1945. Its capital was the city of Rijeka, Fiume. It too ...

, and the town of Sušak would be part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Fiume and Sušak would have a joint administration of the port facilities. Both towns are now in the city of

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Background

After Fiume was under Gabriele D'Annunzio's

Italian Regency of Carnaro The Italian Regency of Carnaro () was a self-proclaimed state in the city of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) led by Gabriele d'Annunzio between 1919 and 1920. During World War I (1914–1918), which the Kingdom of Italy entered on the side of t ...

, the

Treaty of Rapallo (1920) The Treaty of Rapallo was an agreement between the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in the aftermath of the First World War. It was intended to settle the Adriatic question, which referred to Italian claims ov ...

created the independent

Free State of Fiume The Free State of Fiume () was an independent free state that existed from 1920 to 1924. Its territory of comprised the city of Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia) and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to the Kingdo ...

, which was immediately recognised by other states, including the United States, France and the United Kingdom. The state survived only one year ''de facto'' and four years ''de jure''. The joint administration of the port was never created. On 24 April 1921, the first general elections for its parliament occurred, and it elected President Riccardo Zanella, the leader of the Autonomist Fiuman Movement. On 3 March 1922, a movement directed by the fascist deputy

Francesco Giunta Francesco Giunta (21 March 1887 – 8 June 1971) was an Italian Fascist politician. A leading figure in the early years of fascism, he helped to build the movement in several regions of the country and was particularly active in Trieste. Duri ...

forced Zanella to resign. On 17 September 1923,

Gaetano Giardino Gaetano Giardino (24 January 1864 – 21 November 1935) was an Italian soldier who rose to the rank of Marshal of Italy and Italian Representative to the Allied War Council during World War I.http://www.montegrappa.org/grande_guerra/giardino_gaet ...

, an Italian general, was sent by Italian Prime Minister

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

with the task of restoring public order. In the meantime, negotiations started between Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to dissolve the Free State of Fiume. All parties ratified the agreement in Rome on 22 February 1924, and it became effective the same day. It was registered in the ''League of Nations Treaty Series'' on 7 April 1924.

Terms

The Treaty of Rome revoked parts of the Treaty of Rapallo. The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes asserted its sovereignty over the delta of the

Rječina The Rječina (; or ), also known as the Fiumara, is a river in Croatia that flows into the Adriatic Sea at the city of Rijeka (). It is about long, with an average width of . It springs from a cave at an elevation of above sea level, below the ...

River, including the seaport of Sušak ( Porto Barros) and the north of Fiume County. Italy was given the city of Fiume, some surrounding land and a coastal corridor to connect it to the Italian mainland.

Aftermath

The exact definition of the borders were the object of a joint commission, whose results were agreed upon on 20 July 1925 in the Treaty of Nettuno. Accordi di Nettuno, Italia – Regno serbo-croato-sloveno, 20 luglio 1925
/ref> Following the upheaval of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Tito's Yugoslavia annexed Fiume, putting an end to the provisions of the Treaty of Rome. Nowadays, its former territory roughly corresponds to

Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Primorje – Gorski Kotar County (, ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in western Croatia, most of it based in the historical and cultural region called Croatia proper and some of it in Istria, including the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northe ...

in Croatia.

Notes

External links

Text of the treaty
{{DEFAULTSORT:Treaty Of Rome, 1924 Modern history of Italy 1924 in Croatia History of Rijeka 1924 in Italy 1924 in Yugoslavia Interwar-period treaties Treaties concluded in 1924 Rome (1924) Treaties of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Italy–Yugoslavia relations January 1924 in Europe Adriatic question