Treaty of Rome (1924)
The Treaty of Rome of January 27, 1924 was an agreement by which Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes revoked the parts of the Treaty of Rapallo from 1920, which had created the independent Free State of Fiume. The agreement was that Fiume, now Rijeka in Croatia, would be annexed to Italy as the Province of Fiume, while the town of Sušak was assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. According to the treaty Fiume and Sušak would share a joint administration of the port facilities.
Ratifications of the agreement were exchanged in Rome on February 22, 1924, and it became effective on the same day. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on April 7, 1924.1
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Background and content of the treaty
In 1920 the Free State of Fiume was immediately recognised by all main countries including the United States of America, France and the United Kingdom. In reality it will survive to the events only one year de facto and four years de iure. Also the joint administration of the port was never created. On the 24th of April 1921, the first general elections for the Parliament elected President Riccardo Zanella, leader of the Autonomist Fiuman Movement. On the 3rd of March 1922 a push directed from the fascist deputy Francesco Giunta forced Zanella to resign. After 18 months of alterne eventsm, on the 17th September 1923 Gaetano Giardino, an Italian General, was sent by Benito Mussolini with the task to reinstall the public order. In the meantime negotiations started between Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes to give an end to the new-born Free State of Fiume.
With the Treaty of Rome, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had recognized sovereignty over the delta of the Rječina River, including the seaport of Porto Baross and the northern part of Fiume County. Italy was given the city of Fiume with some surrounding land, as well as a coastal corridor which connected it to the Italian mainland. The exact definition of the borders were the object of a mixed commission, whose results were ratified on the 20th of July 1925.2.
Notes
- ^ League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. 24, pp. 32-89.
- ^ Accordi di Nettuno, Italia - Regno serbo-croato-sloveno, 20 luglio 1925