Venezia Giulia is presented as a border region whose postwar boundaries became a test of competing claims to national loyalty. After the Rapallo Treaty established new borders for the region, Benito Mussolini argued that the settlement should be accepted, while Gabriele D’Annunzio’s opposition gave the region a prominent place in his appeal against the treaty.

Border Settlement

At a meeting of the Central Committee of the Fasci di Combattimento, Benito Mussolini described the Rapallo Treaty as broadly satisfactory with regard to the new borders of Venezia Giulia and Fiume, though not to Dalmatia. He called for acceptance of the agreement as a matter of national discipline, presenting continued agitation over the settlement as a danger amid Italy’s exhaustion and political instability.

A Contested National Claim

D’Annunzio’s proclamation addressed Italians of Trieste, Istria, and Venezia Giulia, naming a span from the Timavo to the Carnaro. It cast the treaty as an impending national crime and invoked sacrifice for the homeland and the future. In this appeal, Venezia Giulia was not merely a boundary in a negotiated settlement: it was part of a wider territory whose inhabitants and political allegiance D’Annunzio claimed as a cause of resistance.

Political Significance

The region marks the divide between Mussolini’s call to accept the treaty as a political fact and D’Annunzio’s effort to sustain opposition to it. Their contrasting positions made Venezia Giulia a focal point in the struggle over whether national discipline required accepting the new borders or defending claims the settlement had left unresolved.