South Tyrol (GermanSüdtirol, ItalianAlto Adige or Sudtirolo, LadinSudtirol) is an autonomous province of Italy. It should not be confused with the autonomous region of Trentino-South Tyrol, of which it is a subdivison. South Tyrol's extensive autonomy makes it de facto comparable to an autonomous region of Italy.
In the aftermath of World War I part of Austrian Tyrol was occupied by Italy, and subsequently annexed, adding an area of 14,037 km² (5,420 mi²) to Italy. The areas around Trento formed Italian-speaking Trentino. In the north the valleys around Bozen/Bolzano were inhabited by ethnic Germans and Ladins. (Today Ladin is the third official language of South Tyrol, alongside German and Italian.)
After the rise of Fascism in 1922 a policy of de-Germanization was carried on ruthlessly. All places, up to the tiniest hamlet, were given Italian names, and even some family names were translated.
Today South Tyrol (i.e. the Province of Bozen-Südtirol or Bolzano-Alto Adige) enjoys a high degree of autonomy, and relations with North and East Tyrol - the two portions of the old state retained by Austria - are lively, especially since Austria joined the European Union. There is a South Tyrolean People's Party, or Südtiroler Volkspartei. However, toponymes (names of places) still have two (German/Italian) or three (Ladin/German/Italian) versions.
According to the 2001census more than two third of the population is German speaking (69.4 %), the second largest language is Italian (26.3 %), followed by Ladin (4.3 %).
