Gorizia is a town in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northeastern Italy, located at the foot of the Julian Alps on the Slovenian border (across from the twin town of Nova Gorica). Originating as a small village not far from the Roman road Via Gemina, its name comes from the Slavic word gorica, meaning "little hill". Gorizia was the center of the County of Gorizia, a state of the Holy Roman Empire in existence from 1127 to 1500, and then the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca from 1754 to 1919. Under Habsburg rule, Gorizia became a multi-ethnic town in which Friulian, Venetian, German, and Slovene were spoken, and it was briefly a center of the Reformation in Slovenia before the Catholic Counter-Reformation reversed the town's flirtation with Protestantism. Gorizia became a popular summer residence of the Austrian nobility following the Napoleonic Wars, being nicknamed the "Austrian Nice". Gorizia acquired a reputation as a quiet and loyal provincial town of the Austrian Empire, and, by the eve of World War I, Gorizia had 31,000 inhabitants, of whom 48% spoke Italian or Friulian and 35% Slovene. From May 1915 to November 1917, Gorizia and the Soča River were the frontlines of the Italian front of World War I, and Gorizia was badly damaged and most of its inhabitants evacuated by early 1916. In November 1918, the Royal Italian Army reoccupied Gorizia and prevented the local Slovenes from joining Yugoslavia, and Benito Mussolini's fascist regime banned the public use of the Slovene language, resulting in many Slovenes emigrating to Yugoslavia or Argentina. In 1921, Gorizia had 47,000 inhabitants, of whom 45.5% were Slovene speakers, 33% Italian speakers, and 20.5% Friulian speakers. In May 1945, the Yugoslav Partisans occupied the town during World War II, killing 1,048 Italian soldiers and civilians in an act of ethnic cleansing. However, on 15 September 1947, the town was assigned to Italy, and its prewar suburbs and 20% of prewar Gorizia's population were annexed to Yugoslavia as "Nova Gorica". Gorizia became a major destination for Istrian Italian refugees, influencing its postwar national and political identity. In 2007, the Schengen Agreement resulted in an open border between Gorizia and Nova Gorica. In 2017, Gorizia had a population of 34,428 people, of whom the majority are Italians.
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