The curious South Tyrol region of Italy.
The South Tyrol region of Italy is fascinating for being a roughly even mix of Italian and German cultures. It's not even a blend of them so much as a superimposition of them. Often a town will look very Italian in construction, but will have German wursthauses alongside the pasta joints, and Swiss/Austrian-style alpine chalets on the hillside above it. Both cultures are strong and coherent and have carried forward through time as distinct entities, sometimes mixing and borrowing from one another but retaining their distinct styles. Most kids learn either Italian or German as their primary language but become fluent in the other as a secondary language.
It turns out the region's political history is very complex. In the early 1900s, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and a favorite vacation place of the empire's royalty. During WWI, Italy remained neutral until the Allies said "Hey Italy, I know you've wanted South Tyrol to be part of Italy, and we'll totally give it to you if you help us win". Italy's government agreed, and soldiers proceeded to kill each other in beautiful mountains for a few years until they won the war and South Tyrol became part of Italy. Then, Mussolini came to power in Italy, and as a Fascist he demanded that all the German speakers in the region become Italians -- he banned German newspapers as well as banning educating schoolchildren in German.
When WWII happened, Mussolini and Hitler struck a deal -- any German speakers in South Tyrol could go to Austria or Germany and be Germans. If there's anything Fascists can't stand, it's diversity, so they endeavored to sort all the humans into the appropriate boxes like legos of different colors. When the core of Italy fell to the Allies, the Germans moved into South Tyrol and claimed it as part of Germany, in turn banning Italian media demanding that everything there be in German. This lasted a couple of years until the Allies won WWII, making the region part of Italy again. A few years after the war, the Italian government decided to make the region semi-autonomous given its unique political and cultural history. As part of this amazing deal, the region gets to keep 90% of their own tax revenue for self-administration.
It's nice to see cultures persist even as government after government attempts to control it. From what I can tell, the German and Italian residents in this area have generally been quite happy existing side by side for a long time despite the machinations of political entities above them.
