Ladins

{{refimprove|date=June 2025}}

{{Short description|Ethnic group in northern Italy}}

{{Infobox ethnic group

| group = Ladins

| flag = Flag of Ladinia.svg

| flag_caption = Flag of Ladins

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| image = Ladin.png

| image_caption = The Ladin-speaking valleys of Val di Fassa, Val Gardena, Val Badia, Livinallongo and Ampezzo and their locations in northern Italy

| image_alt =

| image_upright =

| total = ≈31,000

| total_year = 2011

| total_source = estimate

| total_ref =

| genealogy =

| regions = Ladinia

| languages = Ladin

| religions = Roman Catholicism

| related_groups = Friulians, Romansh

| footnotes =

}}

The Ladins are an ethnolinguistic groupJan Markusse: The South Tyrolese Inter-Ethnic Package Deal. An Example for Other Multi-Ethnic Regions?, in: Yearbook of European Studies 6. Borders and Territories. Rodopi, Amsterdam/Atlanta 1993, {{ISBN|90-5183-506-X}}, p. 193-220. E. g. For the small ethnic group of Ladins the package offers advantages and disadvantages.Christoph Perathoner: Die Dolomitenladiner 1848–1918: ethnisches Bewusstsein und politische Partizipation. Folio, Bozen/Wien 1998, {{ISBN|978-3852560809}} of northern Italy. They are distributed in several valleys, collectively known as Ladinia. These valleys include the valleys of Badia and Gherdëina in South Tyrol, of Fassa in Trentino, and of Livinallongo (also known as Buchenstein or Fodom) and Ampezzo in Belluno.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/ladinia-italys-most-mysterious-region-has-warrior-princesses-and-a-marmot-obsession?ref=wrap|title=Italy’s Most Mysterious Region Has Warrior Princesses and a Marmot Obsession|last=Sakalis|first=Alex|date=22 November 2021|work=The Daily Beast|access-date=10 October 2023}} Their native language is Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language related to the Swiss Romansh and Friulian languages.[http://www.uni-salzburg.at/pls/portal/docs/1/1125211.PDF]{{Dead link|date=February 2020|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} "die drei rätoromanischen Teilgruppen (Bündnerromanisch, Dolomitenladinisch, Friaulisch) ... treten als eine vom Oberitalienischen gänzlich differenzierte Sprachfamilie auf" (the 3 reto-romance language-groups Rumanc, Dolomite Ladin and Friulan are a separate language-family from northern-Italian), 2003 by Prof. Dr. Roland Bauer, University of Salzburg Ladinia is located in the historical region of Tyrol, and Ladins share that region's culture, history, traditions, environment and architecture.

Ladins developed a formal national identity in the 19th century.Christoph Perathoner: Die Dolomitenladiner 1848–1918: ethnisches Bewusstsein und politische Partizipation. Folio, Bozen/Wien 1998, {{ISBN|978-3852560809}} Micurà de Rü undertook the first attempt to develop a written form of the Ladin language. Ladin culture is promoted by the government-sponsored cultural institute Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü in the South Tyrolean municipality of San Martin de Tor. There is also a Ladin museum in the same municipality. The Ladins of Trentino and Belluno have their own cultural institutes: Majon de Fascegn in Vigo di Fassa, Cesa de Jan in Colle Santa Lucia and Istituto Ladin de la Dolomites in Borca di Cadore.

The Ladin people constitute 4.53% of the population of South Tyrol.{{cite web

| title = South Tyrol in Figures

| work = Declaration of language group affiliation – Population Census 2011

| url = http://www.provinz.bz.it/astat/de/bevoelkerung/458.asp?aktuelles_action=300&aktuelles_image_id=563169

|format=PDF| accessdate = 2012-10-07}}