Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Friulian: Friûl-Vignesie Julie, German: Friaul-Julisch Venetien, Slovenian: Furlanija - Julijska krajina, Venetian: Friul-Venezsia Ju?ia) is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. It was also called Venezia Euganea. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,856 sq.km and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is traversed by the major transport routes between the east and west of southern Europe.

Located in northeastern Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia borders the region of Veneto to the west, the republics of Austria and Slovenia to the north and east, and the Adriatic Sea to the south. The length of its coast is 111.7 km. Its capital is Trieste (Slovenian: Trst; German: Triest).

The name comes from the Latin name of the town of Cividale, ancient capital of the Lombard duchy, which used to be "Forum Iulii" ("Julius' forum", named after Julius Caesar). This artificial region was created after World War II to solve the problem of Trieste, which had lost its natural hinterland, that was the major part of Venezia Giulia and has been included in the then-existing country of Yugoslavia. Therefore it was decided to aggregate the historical region of Friuli to Trieste.