Sežana

Sežana (pronounced [sɛˈʒaːna]; Italian: Sesana) is a town in the Slovenian Littoral region of Slovenia, near the border with Italy. It is the seat of the Municipality of Sežana. Sežana is located on the Karst Plateau, 17 kilometres (11 miles) from Trieste, Italy, and 80 km (50 mi) from Ljubljana, the capital city of Slovenia.

Name

Sežana was attested in written sources in 1152 as in Cesan (and as Ses(s)ana in 1293 and Sexana in 1442). The name is of unclear origin. The early transcriptions do not support a connection with Saint Susanna or with the Friulian toponym Susáns. The presumed suffix -ana would indicate a Romance origin, making possible a derivation from the Latin personal name Sessius. Another possibility is derivation from the estate name *Sextiānum, and a Lombard origin of the name has also been suggested. In the 19th century the names Sessana and Sehsana were in official use.

History

Until 1918, the town was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austria side after the compromise of 1867), head of the district of the same name, one of the 11 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in the Austrian Littoral province.