Abstract
Friuli-Venezia Giulia is a multilingual region that lies in the northeasternmost section of Northern Italy. It contains 'alloglot' German-speaking and Slovenian communities, as well as scattered Venetian-speaking centers. The most consistent group is that of Friulian speakers. The regional autonomy of Friuli-Venezia Giulia was initially meant to respond to the presence of the Slavic component, due to the threatening claims of Yugoslavia. The legislative acknowledgment of the Friulian cultural and linguistic distinctiveness in the last decades of the 20th century. Friulian is indeed a distinct Rhaeto-Romance language, while Friuli, intended as a geocultural and political space, has a centuries-long history of institutional autonomy. The recognition of the Friulian unicity within today's Italy does unveil the tight relation among linguistic, socioeconomic and political issues in the struggle for recognition of minority groups such as the Friulians.