The Karst Plateau or the Karst region (, ), also locally called Karst, is a

karst plateau The Karst Plateau or the Karst region (, ), also locally called Karst, is a karst plateau region extending across the border of southwestern Slovenia and northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the val ...

region extending across the border of southwestern

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and northeastern

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 ...

. It lies between the Vipava Valley, the low hills surrounding the valley, the westernmost part of the Brkini Hills, northern

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

, and the

Gulf of Trieste The Gulf of Trieste(, , , ) is a shallow bay of the Adriatic Sea, in the extreme northern part of the Adriatic Sea. It is part of the Gulf of Venice and is shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. It is closed to the south by the peninsula of Ist ...

. The western edge of the plateau also marks the traditional ethnic border between

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

and

Slovenes The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( ), are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, Slovenian culture, culture, and History of Slove ...

. The region gave its name to

karst topography Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

. For this reason, it is also referred to as the ''Classical Karst''.

Geographical position

The plateau rises quite steeply above the neighboring landscape, except for its northeastern side, where the steepness is less pronounced. The plateau gradually descends from the southeast to the southwest. On average it lies 334 m above sea level. Its western edge, known as the Karst Rim (), is a continuation of the

Učka The Učka (, ) is a mountain range in western Croatia. It rises behind the Opatija riviera, on the eastern side of the Istrian peninsula. It forms a single morphological unit together with the Ćićarija range which stretches from the Bay of T ...

mountain range in eastern

, and rises to the east and southeast of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, ending in steep cliffs between

Aurisina Aurisina (until 1923 ''Nabresina'', ) is a town in the karst part of the comune of Duino-Aurisina (Slovene: ) near Trieste, Italy, in a region of Slovene minority. It lies 15 kilometres northwest of Trieste, and according to the 2003 census had a ...

and

Duino Duino (, ) is today a seaside resort on the northern Adriatic Sea, Adriatic coast. It is a ''hamlet (place), hamlet'' of Duino-Aurisina, a municipality (''comune'') of the Friuli–Venezia Giulia region of northeastern Italy. The settlement, pict ...

. Many interesting geological phenomena occur along the Karst Rim, including the picturesque Rosandra Valley (also known as Glinščica). Because the Karst steeply descends towards the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

, it is less exposed to the beneficial climatological effects of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. In the past, the main vegetation on the plateau was

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s, but these were replaced by

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

forests in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s now cover only one third of the Karst. Starting in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the plateau suffered radical deforestation for economic reasons. Although it is often said that much of the wood for the closely spaced piles that support the island city of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

came from this region, this is unlikely. Venice perhaps used the wood for naval timber. The most radical deforestation occurred in the first half of the nineteenth century due to clear-cutting by local farmers and conversion of the land into pastures for goats and sheep. The Karst is famous for its

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s. In Slovenia, they include

Vilenica Cave Vilenica Cave or Vilenica Cave at Lokev () is the oldest show cave in Europe. The first tourists to the cave were recorded in 1633. It is located next to the village of Lokev in the municipality of Sežana on the Karst Plateau in southwestern ...

(the oldest

show cave A show cave—also called tourist cave, public cave, and, in the United States, commercial cave—is a cave which has been made accessible to the public for guided visits. Definition A show cave is a cave that has been made accessible to ...

in Europe),

Lipica Cave Lipica may refer to several places: Poland * Lipica, Poland, a village in the Province of Warmia-Masuria Serbia * Lipica (Tutin), a village in the Municipality of Tutin Slovenia * Lipica (border crossing), a border crossing near Lipica ...

, Divača Cave, Kačna Cave,

Postojna Cave Postojna Cave (; ; ) is a long karst cave system near Postojna, southwestern Slovenia. It is the second-longest cave system in the country (following the Migovec System) as well as one of its top tourism sites. The caves were created by the P ...

, and Škocjan Caves (a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

), and Grotta Gigante in Italy (the largest show cave in the world). Most of the Karst is located in the

Slovenian Littoral The Slovene Littoral, or simply Littoral (, ; ; ), is one of the traditional regions of Slovenia. The littoral in its name – for a coastal-adjacent area – recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg poss ...

, covering an area of 429 square kilometres, with a population of about 19,000 people. The Karst as a whole has exactly 100 settlements. The town of

Sežana Sežana (; ) is a town in the Slovenian Littoral region of Slovenia, near the border with Italy. It is the seat of the Municipality of Sežana. Sežana is located on the Karst Plateau, from Trieste, Italy, and from Ljubljana, the capital city ...

is the center of the region on the Slovene side of the border. The main rural centers are the settlements of Divača, Dutovlje, and Komen. Štanjel is a picturesque clustered settlement at the top of the northern rim of the

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

; its houses are tightly clustered around Turn Hill, giving it the appearance of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

town. On the Italian side of the border, important settlements include Opicina,

, and

. Natural conditions, including the bora () wind, and the local way of life all shaped the elements of Karst

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

, creating simple but well-defined forms. One of the main tourist centers in the area is Lipica, with its

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud (animal), stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, ...

(the home of the

Lipizzan The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner (, , , , , , ) is a European horse breed, breed of riding horse developed in the Habsburg Empire in the sixteenth century. It is of Baroque horse, Baroque type, and is powerful, slow to mature and long-lived; the coa ...

horse breed) and other tourist facilities.

Language, culture and traditions

The vast majority of the inhabitants of the Karst Plateau are ethnic

. Traditionally, only the villages of San Martino del Carso and Poggio-Sdraussina (in the municipality of Sagrado) has been inhabited by Friulian speakers, the villages of Polazzo (in the municipality of Fogliano-Redipuglia), Vermegliano and Selz (in the municipality of

Ronchi dei Legionari Ronchi dei Legionari ( Bisiacco: ; , , ) is a (municipality) in the regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeast Italy, about southwest of Gorizia and northwest of Trieste. It is the location of Trieste – ...

) by Venetian speakers, and the town of

has been inhabited for long by a mixed population, while all the rest of the region was almost entirely Slovene-speaking from the Middle Ages until the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, after which some thousands Italians moved in the region while it was entirely under Italy's sovereignty, and again from the late 1940s and during the 1950s, when Istrian Italians fleeing from Yugoslavia were settled in Karst villages in the Province of Trieste, especially in the municipality of

. As a consequence, today an estimated one fifth of the population of the Karst Plateau is Italian speaking, while the rest is mostly Slovene speaking. The Slovenes in the region speak two closely related

Slovene dialects In a purely dialectological sense, Slovene dialects ( , ) are the regionally diverse varieties that evolved from old Slovene, a South Slavic language of which the standardized modern version is Standard Slovene. This also includes several di ...

, both belonging to the Littoral dialect group. In the southern part of the plateau (in the municipalities of Divača and Hrpelje-Kozina, and the southern part of the

Municipality of Sežana A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

, in the Italian municipality of Monrupino, and in most of the Slovene-speaking areas of the municipality of

), the Inner Carniolan dialect is spoken. In the northern part (the northern part of the Municipality of Sežana, in the Slovenian municipalities of Komen and Miren-Kostanjevica, in the Italian municipalities of Sgonico, Duino-Aurisina and

Doberdò del Lago Doberdò del Lago (; Venetian language#Regional variants, Bisiacco: ; ) is a (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia, Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in the Italy, Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of ...

, as well in some eastern suburbs of

, like

Barcola Barcola () is a maritime neighbourhood of Trieste, Italy. It is a popular tourist destination with beaches and long promenades, near the Habsburg-established Miramare Castle. Barcola is highly valued for the high quality of life and the free acc ...

), the Karst dialect is spoken. The Karst is renowned for its strong red

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

, known as teran,

prosciutto Prosciutto ( ; ), also known as ''prosciutto crudo'', is an uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham. It is usually served thinly sliced. Several regions in Italy have their own variations of ''prosciutto crudo'', each with degrees of protected ...

and its traditional cuisine, which is a mixture of

and

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

an cuisine. The traditionally produced Karst prosciutto, a sort of dry-cured ham, is protected at the European level.

Prominent natives and residents

Prominent persons that were born or lived in this region include the poets Srečko Kosovel, Igo Gruden, Ciril Zlobec, and Branka Jurca, social activist

Danilo Dolci Danilo Dolci (28 June 1924 – 30 December 1997) was an Italian social activist, sociologist, popular educator and poet. He is best known for his opposition to poverty, social exclusion and the Mafia in Sicily, and is considered to be one of the ...

, architect

Max Fabiani Maximilian Fabiani, commonly known as Max Fabiani (, ) (29 April 1865 – 12 August 1962) was an Italians, Italian architect, born in the village of Kobdilj near Štanjel on the Karst Plateau, County of Gorizia and Gradisca, in present-day Sl ...

, painters Avgust Černigoj and Lojze Spacal, writers Alojz Rebula, Igor Torkar, and Bogomir Magajna, theologian Anton Mahnič, politicians Drago Marušič, Josip Ferfolja, and Majda Širca, economist Milko Brezigar, and actress

Ita Rina Tamara Đorđević (born Italina Lida Kravanja; 7 July 1907 – 10 May 1979), known professionally as Ita Rina, was a Slovenian film actress and beauty queen. She was one of the major film stars in Germany and Czechoslovakia in the late 1920s and ...

. The picturesque Karst landscape inspired numerous artists who were not from this region, including the poets

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

Alojz Gradnik Alojz Gradnik (August 3, 1882 – July 14, 1967) was a Slovenian poet and translation, translator. Life Gradnik was born in the village of Medana in the Gorizia Hills region, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire and is today in the Muni ...

, and Edvard Kocbek, essayists Scipio Slataper and Marjan Rožanc, writers

Italo Svevo Aron Hector Schmitz (19 December 186113 September 1928), better known by the pseudonym Italo Svevo (), was an Italian and Austro-Hungarian writer, businessman, novelist, playwright, and short story writer. A close friend of Irish novelist and ...

, Fulvio Tomizza, and Susanna Tamaro, and film director Jan Cvitkovič. Many artists and authors settled in the area, including Josip Osti and Taras Kermauner.

Geographical extension

Municipalities that are completely or partially in the Karst include: *

** Savogna d'Isonzo () (partially) **

() ** Sagrado () (partially) **

Fogliano Redipuglia Fogliano Redipuglia (; Bisiacco: ; ; , ) is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about southwest of Gorizia. Fogliano Redip ...

() (partially) **

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Venetian language#Regional variants, Bisiacco: ; ; ; archaic ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Gorizia, Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Tr ...

() (partially) ** Duino-Aurisina () ** Sgonico () ** Monrupino () **

() (partially) ** San Dorligo della Valle () (partially) *

** Miren-Kostanjevica (partially) ** Komen **

** Divača ** Hrpelje-Kozina (partially) Historically, the region around Pivka,

Postojna Postojna (; , ) is a town in the traditional region of Inner Carniola, from Trieste, in southwestern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Postojna.

and Ilirska Bistrica also used to be considered as part of the Karst. This subregional identity is still documented in the late 17th century, but it weakened in the later period, replaced by an

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica (plateau), Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the Goriška, Gor ...

n identity. File:View from Štanjel.JPG, The Karst landscape as viewed from Štanjel File:San Giovanni di Duino - Stivan.jpg, Landscape near

File:Duino castello 09022008 01.jpg, The cliffs of

File:Il Carso a Duino.JPG, Karst landscape in the Province of Trieste File:Repentabor3.jpg, The fortified church in Monrupino File:Lokev,Slovenija.jpg, The village of Lokev near

File:Karst italy doberdo lake.jpg, Lake Doberdò File:Karst italy landscape.jpg, Karst landscape near

File:Monte Cosusso da ovest.jpeg, Monte Cocusso

References

External links

Karst in Slovenia
Slovenia: a geographical overview. Nadja Zupan Hajna
PR Office of the Slovenian Government
– Kras and Karst (archived 10 November 2006)
''Kraško-brkinska regija'' (The Karst and Brkini Region)
{{Authority control Karst plateaus of Slovenia Plateaus of Italy Plateaus in the Slovene Littoral Landforms of Friuli-Venezia Giulia Geographical, historical and cultural regions of Italy Karst Karst formations of Slovenia Rock formations of Italy Natura 2000 in Slovenia Biosphere reserves of Slovenia Dinaric karst formations