Italian Historical Migration and Investments in Modern-day Romania

Abstract

The present master-thesis analyses the common historical and economical relationship between Italy and Romania, two countries of Latin origin that have been both founded by the middle of the 19th century, through the unification of different former states of same roots, language, culture and history. The thesis is divided into five chapters. The first chapter covers the middle ages and then the period of the 19th century until 1945, when Italian craftsmen, especially from the provinces of North-Eastern Italy, came to the newly established Romanian Kingdom, laying the foundation for the nowadays officially recognized Italian minority in Romania. The second chapter presents the economic and social relationships between Italy and Romania during the time of the communist regime, which was imposed to Romania by the Soviet Union after World War 2 and lasted until the end of 1989. Chapter three presents the status of the Italian minority after the revolution of 1989 and until today. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the markets of the former communist states in Eastern Europe were opened to western products and investments. Also Romania opened its economy step by step during the transitional period from communism to capitalism and free market. Many Italian companies used the new opportunities and invested heavily in Romania. In particularly the western historical region of Banat with it's unofficial capital Timişoara, became the epicentre of Italian invested capital. This development along the reasons why exactly this region became so attractive for Italian companies during the 1990s are presented in the fourth chapter. Chapter five shows the present situation of Italian companies and provides detailed information of their economic activity in Romania.