If Venece is to be considered as subdivision of Italians and judging by the bellow maps it does appear that Istria was indeed Italian (Roman and later Venetian) until relatively recently. Ancient Istrian tribes were also Italic in language and culture thus the region does appear to be Italic from the onset of the known recorded history up until domination of Austria in map 1800AD. Today it is of course Croatian.
www.euratlas.com/time1.htm-EUROPE AD 0001 (Istria: Roman: Venetia Regio)
-EUROPE AD 0100 (Istria: Roman: Venetia Regio)
-EUROPE AD 0200 (Istria: Roman: Venetia Regio)
-EUROPE AD 0300 (Istria: Roman: Venetia Regio)
-EUROPE AD 0400 (Istria: Roman: Venetia Regio)
-EUROPE AD 0500 (Istria: Romanized Gothic Kingdom: Venetia Et Histria)
-EUROPE AD 0600 (Istria: Eastern Roman (Byzantine))
-EUROPE AD 0700 (Istria: Eastern Roman (Byzantine): Venetia & Istria)
-EUROPE AD 0800 (Istria: Romanized Frankish Kingdom: Kingdom of Italy)
-EUROPE AD 0900 (Istria: Kingdom of Italy or D.Venice)
-EUROPE AD 1000 (Istria: German based Holly Roman Empire or Venice)
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www.euratlas.com/time2.htm-EUROPE AD 1100 (Istria: Venetian)
-EUROPE AD 1200 (Istria: Venetian)
-EUROPE AD 1300 (Istria: Venetian)
-EUROPE AD 1400 (Istria: Venetian)
-EUROPE AD 1500 (Istria: Venetian)
-EUROPE AD 1600 (Istria: Venetian)
-EUROPE AD 1700 (Istria: Venetian)
-EUROPE AD 1800 (Istria: Austrian)
-EUROPE AD 1900 (Istria: Austrian)
-EUROPE AD 2000 (Istria: Croatian)