This period of diplomatic acrimony closed with the bilateral Treaty of Rome (27 January 1924), signed by Italy and Yugoslavia. With it the two neighbouring countries were agreeing on invading and partitioning the territory of the small state. Most of the territory of the old Corpus Separatum became part of Italy, while a few northern villages of Croatian-Slovenian language were annexed by Yugoslavia. The annexation happened de facto on 16 March 1924, and it inaugurated circa twenty years of Italian government for the city proper.