Best practices in the sustainable identity of minority communities - the case of the Molise Croats

This paper examines the issue of the survival of the indigenous Molise Croatian community in the south of Italy. Since the 1960s, inhabitants have been emigrating from South Italy due to rapid industrialisation. The big emigration wave to Australia as well as North and South America began in the 1950s and continued in the 1960s and 1970s both to different European countries as well as migrating within Italy itself. Youth relocate to larger cities to pursue an education, while the working population relocates to pursue employment; both lead to the abandonment of the traditional lifestyle in rural areas. These processes have heavily endangered the dialect of Molise Croats, which was the core of the cultural and traditional values within the community. Today, under the conditions of the modern lifestyle, minority cultures and languages are regaining their special role and significance within European integration processes, and a universal model of protecting minority communities and their culture and languages is being examined. This paper aims to represent a language, culture and tradition sustainability best practices of an emigrant community, by using the example of Molise Croats. The proposal, with some adjustments, can be applied to other Croatian communities in Europe with the aim of preserving their national identity.