ome members of what is officially called the Italian ethnic community on the Istrian peninsula in today's Croatia speak the local language Istrioto or else Istro-Veneto, an Istrian dialect of the Venetian language, because the Venetian empire ruled Istria for nearly a millennium. Istro-Romanian, spoken in villages further inland on the peninsula, also has a community of speakers in New York. Today many in Istria are shifting to the regional Chakavian variety of Croatian but most Istrian New Yorkers left the region following the upheaval of the Second World War, with a significant number coming to New York City. Today, the Istria Sports Club remains a focal point for the community, where some speakers of Istrian languages can still be found. Linguist Zvjezdana Vrzic estimates that there are a few thousand Istrians living now not just in and around Astoria but in Bayside, Whitestone, New Jersey, Long Island, and elsewhere in the country.