Kicking Roman Butt

[Chariovalda]

Also a colleague of mine who went to univercity in Northern Italy claims that there are still villages in the Penines in Italy that speak Ostrogothic!!!!!
He was a no noncence guy so I take him by his word.

I suspect he was referring to the Cimbri, who are not descended from the Cimbri of old but from medieval German settlers.

Italian "Cimbri" have nothing to do with Rom (Gypsies). This is the self-denomination of little minorities scattered throughout Northern Italy and coming from Austria or Southern Bavaria (XII-XIV centuries): the major Cimbre communities are the ones of the 13 Communes ("13 Comuni") on the mounts over Verona, the 7 Communes ("7 Comuni") in the mpuntains N of Vicenza, and a few villages in the Provinces of Trento (Luserna), Belluno (Sappada/Ploden), Udine (Sauris and Timau). Their peculiar dialects - directly deriving from Middle German are still preserved in some of the villages.
Though there are general conventions of all the Cimbri, I don't know of any flag common to all of them. They use the flags of their single villages or confederations of communes (Verona and Vicenza). The name "Cimbri" has nothing to do with the Cimbri and Theutones defeated by Marius in North Germany in the first Century BC. It is, on the contrary, to be tied with modern German Zimmer (room < hut made of wood) or with English Timber (wood for construction). These Germanic peoples were called to Italy because they were good wood-cutters and carpenters and especially because they knew how to obtain coal from wood and therefore how to get the high temperatures that were needed for smelting metals. As a consequence when a North Italian Lord wanted to open a mine almost always called Cimbri settlers.
Alberto M. Mioni, 13 April 2000
They call themselves Tzimbar, and they speak a Germanic language called "Tauch". The modern version of the origin of this mysterious people could be this: in 1287 Bartolomeo della Scala, bishop of Verona asked some families of woodcutter, "tzimberer" in german, to work in a wide forest, Lessinia. So They settled in this area, the so-called "die Dreizehn Gemeinden/Tredici Comuni". The names of the "thirteen communes" are (tauch and italian names):
1- Kalwein (it: Badia Calavena)
2- Nuagankirchen (it: Bosco Chiesanuova)
3- Silva Hermanorum (it: Cerro Veronese)
4- ? (it: Erbezzo)
5- ? (it: Rover?)
6- San Moritz (it: San Mauro delle Saline)
7- Prugne and Ljetzan (it: Selva di Progno)
8- Vellje-Feld (it: Velo Veronese).
The last 5 are no more indipendent communes, but the italian administration included them in the previous ones. They are:
9- Kampsilvan
10- San Bortolo
11- Tavernole
12- Porrental
13- Azzarino.
All in Verona province, Veneto region.

Tzimbar also live in the area of "Die Sieben Gemeinden/Sette Comuni" in Vicenza province, Veneto region. The seven communes should be:
1- Schlage (it: Asiago) - now a beautiful touristic village -
2- ? (it: Gallio)
3- Robaan (it: Roana)
4- Canove (?)
5- Vallorch (?)
6- Pich (?)
7- Pian Osteria (?)

Other little Tzimber "islands" in North italy in the previous comment.

So, no Goths these (although I suppose their South German ancestors may have had some Gothic ancestors included in the Bajuwarian mix)

Source:
http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/flag ... r.html#cym