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- Melania Trump grew up in Sevnica, Slovenia, a small town of around 17,670 people.
- Her father was a car salesman, and her mother worked in a local textile factory.
- Sevnica’s tourism doubled when she became first lady for the first time.
Before Melania Trump became a fashion model and first lady of the United States, she was Melanija Knavs, the Slovenian daughter of a car salesman and a textile factory worker.
As the first naturalized US citizen to serve as first lady and the second foreign-born first lady in US history, Trump’s hometown of Sevnica, Slovenia, has become a tourist destination attracting visitors to see where she spent her early years.
Here are some Sevnica landmarks from Trump’s childhood.
Melania Trump grew up in Sevnica, Slovenia.
Trump was born in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, on April 26, 1970.
She spent her childhood in Sevnica, a small town 30 miles away.
Sevnica is located along the Sava River in central Slovenia.
It has a population of 17,672, according to data collected by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia in 2023.
When Melania Trump was born, Slovenia was a communist country ruled by President Josip Tito and known as Yugoslavia.
Slovenia became independent in 1991.
Before Trump’s rise to fame as a model and then FLOTUS, Sevnica was known for its furniture and clothing factories, as well as its annual salami festival.
Sevnica produces over 150 kinds of salami, a feat celebrated at its annual Salamiada festival.
Now, Sevnica produces a salami named after the first lady.
Sevnica’s tourism doubled in the year before Donald Trump’s first term as interest in Melania Trump grew, a tour guide told Reuters in January 2017.
The small town capitalized on its claim to fame as the former FLOTUS’ hometown, offering tours, foods, and souvenirs named after her.
For 2017 as a whole, the number of foreigners visiting Slovenia jumped 17% when compared to the previous year, with a total of 3.4 million visitors, Reuters reported in January 2018.
The number of visitors has risen in the years since, with just under 7 million visitors in 2025, The Slovenian Times reported.
As a child, Trump — then known as Melanija Knavs — lived in this block of Communist-era apartments.
Her father, Viktor Knavs, worked as a car salesman. Her mother, Amalija, worked at a local textile factory.
Trump has one sister, Ines Knauss, and a half-brother, Denis Cigelnjak.
Trump attended Sevnica’s Savo Kladnik Elementary School.
Mirjana Jelancic, a friend of Trump’s who went on to become principal of the school, told ABC News in 2016 that the young Trump was “an angel” and “a very good student.”
Her family later moved to a modest house on Ribniki Street.
When Trump and her sister, Ines, were in high school, the Knavs family moved to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. There, Trump was scouted by photographer Stane Jerko and signed with a modeling agency when she was 18.
Trump remained connected to her hometown over the years, donating $25,000 to a medical center there in 2005.
Trump made the donation after her wedding in 2005, The New York Times reported.
Residents of Sevnica celebrated President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 election.
Trump is the second first lady born outside the US. The first was John Quincy Adams’ wife, Louisa Catherine Adams, who was born in London.
Sevnica locals also gathered to watch both of Donald Trump’s inaugurations.
The Rotary Klub Sevnica held events in honor of Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 and 2025. Proceeds from the 2025 event went toward a youth scholarship fund, the Slovenian outlet Dolenjski List reported.
American artist Brad Downey commissioned a monument of Trump from Slovenian sculptor Ales “Maxi” Zupevc in 2019 that was erected in a field outside Sevnica.
The wooden statue, modeled after Trump’s blue Ralph Lauren inauguration dress, garnered mixed reviews.
A bronze statue replaced the original wooden one after it was vandalized and burned in 2020.
A plaque at the site says the new bronze statue is “dedicated to the eternal memory of a monument to Trump which stood in this location from 2019-2020.”
Trump, the first naturalized US citizen to serve as first lady, has spoken about her immigration journey.
At a 2023 naturalization ceremony held at the National Archives in Washington, DC, Trump said that becoming a US citizen is a “life-altering experience that takes time, determination, and sometimes even tremendous strength.” She also recalled navigating a “labyrinth” of paperwork to obtain a worker visa during her modeling career.
“I recall feeling a tremendous sense of pride and belonging after I recited the US oath of allegiance, as the pathway to citizenship is arduous,” she said.
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