The Friulan Philological Society was founded in Gorizia on 23rd November 1919, "to the purpose of studying and cultivating the Friulan speaking and its literary manifestations" (as one can read in its first Statute). It was named after Graziadio Isaia Ascoli, a glottologist from Gorizia.
The decree of 7th August 1936 raised the Society to the status of a non-profit corporation and the regional law of 1981 (No 68) recognized it as a "primary institution for the safeguarding and the development of Friulan culture and language" (art.36). That title was reconfirmed by the recent law on the safeguarding of Friulan which was passed by the regional Council and the Government (March 1996).
At present, the Society has over 4,000 members, both in Italy and abroad, and works on the territory of the self-governing region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.