Free Territory of Trieste

Free Territory of Trieste Territorio Libero di Trieste (Italian) Svobodno tržaško ozemlje (Slovene) Slobodni Teritorij Trsta (Croatian) Слободна Територија Трста (Serbian) Teritorio Libero de Trieste (Triestine · Venetian)
1947
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Inno Di San Giusto "Hymn to Saint Justus"
Zone A (the green area and a small part of purple area) and Zone B (the pink and most of the purple area), indicating how the territory's control was split following its dissolution (green to Italy, pink to the Socialist Republic of Croatia, purple to the Socialist Republic of Slovenia)
Status	Independent territory under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council
Capital and largest city	Trieste
Official languages	Italian · Slovene · Serbo-Croatian · English (only for administrative purposes)
Religion	Catholicism, Serbian Orthodox, Judaism
Demonym(s)	Triestine
Government	Temporary UNSC military government
Governor (Zone A)
• 1945 (first)	Bernard Freyberg
• 1951–1954 (last)	John Winterton
Governor (Zone B)
• 1945–1947 (first)	Dušan Kveder
• 1951–1954 (last)	Miloš Stamatović
Legislature	People's Assembly
Historical era	Cold War
• Trieste operation	30 April 1945
• UNSC Resolution 16	10 January 1947
• Treaty of Paris	10 February 1947
• Treaty of Osimo	10 November 1975
Currency	Italian lira (Zone A) Triestine lira (Zone B)[1]
Preceded by Succeeded by Italy Yugoslavia Italy
Today part of	Croatia Slovenia Italy

The Free Territory of Trieste^[2] was an independent territory in Southern Europe between Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II. It acted as such for a period of 7 years.

The territory was established on 10 February 1947, by a protocol of the Treaty of Peace with Italy, to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral independent country. The intention was also to cool down territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia, due to its strategic importance for trade with Central Europe. It came into existence on 15 September 1947. Its administration was divided into two areas: one being the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the northwest (Zone A); the other (Zone B) was formed by a small portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula.

With the signing of the London Memorandum of 1954, it was agreed to transfer the civil administration of Zone A to Italy and Zone B to Yugoslavia, but the Free Territory of Trieste was never formally dissolved de jure, in the absence of a decision by the United Nations or a recognized trust authority.^[3]

The city of Trieste and the territory of Zone A is today under the control of Italy and its Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the area of Zone B is today under the control of Slovenia and Croatia.^[4]