How many people worldwide know that in South Tyrol, an Italian province wedged up against the borders of Austria and Switzerland, three different languages are spoken and live together peacefully? I would guess the answer is only a few people know. But in South Tyrol, this diversity can cause a loss of identity to say the least.

When the Treaty of Saint Germain was signed in September 1919 and 220,000 German and Ladin (a romance language of the area) speakers of South Tyrol suddenly became Italian citizens, no one could have imagined how complex and intricate the political implications would become.