Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus



Master Of Sculpture - Michelangelo



Master Of Literature - Dante



Napoleon



Inventor - Robert Whithead



Maestro Gustav Mahler



Nobel Laureate Robert Koch


Poet Gabriele D'Annunzio



Big Apple Mayor Fiorello La Guardia



Literary Giant - James Joyce



Emperor Franz Josef



Tito



R & R Legend Chuck Berryy



Sting



Big Guy Luciano Pavaroti



Sir Elton John



Vanessa Redgrave

Istria is well known from times when Romans ruled across most of Europe.
They called this land TERRA MAGICA - MAGIC LAND. The best olive oil in the Empire was made here. Unique climate and soil produced extraordinary food and wine and the tradition continue to this days.







Brief History

Romans called the peninsula - terra magica. Name "Istra" came from the tribes Histri who lived in that region. Romans described them - Pirates that can't be conquered and subdued. After two military military campaignsin 177AD Romans finaly crushed the brave resistance of Histrians.



After fall of Roman Empire in 476, Istria was occupied by Langobards i Gots. At the end of 6th century Croatian tribes populated Istria. In 789 Istra was occupied by Franks.



The Euphrasian Basilica in Poreč

The episcopal complex, including, apart the basilica itself, a sacristy, a baptistery and the bell tower of the nearby archbishop's palace, is one of the best examples of early Byzantine art in the Mediterranean region.

The Euphrasian basilica has for the most part retained its original shape, but accidents, fires and earthquakes have altered a few details. Since it is the third church to be built on the same site, it conceals previous buildings, for example the great floor mosaic of the previous basilica from the 5th century. Because of its exceptional value, it has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.



Dance Of Dead 1474 - Vincent From Kastav

Fresco artists Vincent from Kastav decorated the interior of the Church of St Mary near Beram in Istria with a painting - Dance of Death. The fresco painted on the southern wall is 90cm high and 630cm long. It features eleven figures including every walk of life, from pope, kings, queens, cardinals, bishops, priests down through richmen, tradesmen, cripples, and even a child just emerging from its cradle.

They are each holding hands with a skeleton who leads them to the master skeleton, Death himself, who in his turn helpfully holds the lid to the grave open. The part of the fresco depict: skeletons, the priest holding a book under his arm, the bishop and the cardinal.

The inscription partly written in Latin and partly in the old Glagolitic script written underneath the fresco, which illustrates the principle of equality of all before Death. Epidemy like the Black Death decimated the Istrian population.



Venice started the policy of settling Slav communities to repopulate the peninsula. In 1267 Istria become part of a strong Venetian Republic, and in 1797 part of Habsburg Monarchy (ruled by Napoleon from 1805-1813). From 1861, Poreč become Istrian capital under Austro-Ungarian Empire.



Istrian Coat Of Arms

From 1920. to 1943. Istra become part of Italy.

After second World War and liberation of the ocupied country from Italians and Germans by Tito's partisans Istria become part of Yugoslavia.
In 1991 after the break up / dissolution become part of Croatia.

Visited by famous people like Robert Koch - German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis (1877), the Tuberculosis bacillus (1882) and the Vibrio cholerae (1883) and for his development of Koch's postulates. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his tuberculosis findings in 1905. He is considered one of the founders of microbiology.

James Joyce Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Along with Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and others, Joyce was a key figure in the development of the modernist novel. He is best known for his landmark novel Ulysses (1922). Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). He stayed in Pula, teaching English mainly to Austro-Hungarian naval officers stationed at the Pola base, from October 1904 until March 1905.

Famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri was inspired by Istria. He was born in Florence.
His Divine Comedy, originally called Commedia by the author and later nicknamed Divina by Boccaccio, is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.

Talented British engeneer Robert Witehead worked in Rijeka. He constructed a modern day torpedo which was one of German deadliest weapons in Atlantic in the Second World War. The Austrian Gunboat Gemse was adapted for launching in Fiume (Rijeka) shipyard. This ship was equipped with a launching barrel, which was Whitehead’s invention. More than 50 launch trials were performed in front of the factory, in Bay Of Kvarer.

Emperor Franz Joseph I., was an Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia and Apostolic King of Hungary and Croatia from 1848 until 1916. He visited Opatija couple of times. In 1914, his nephew Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, leading to World War I.

During Easters holidays Gustav Mahler wrote in Opatija large part of his 6th symphony. Mahler was the director of the Vienna Opera from 1897. until 1907., and later on the conductor in New York's Metropolitan Opera House.

Fiorello La Guardia was USA konsul in Rijeka - later Mayor of New York for three terms from 1934 to 1945. La Guardia led New York's recovery during the Great Depression and became a national figure, serving as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's director of civilian defense during the run-up to American entry into World War II in 1941. He worked for New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children as an interpreter for the U.S. Bureau of Immigration at the Ellis Island immigrant station (1907–1910). LaGuardia Airport, the smallest of New York's three major currently operating airports, bears his name.

Another well known Italian poet, D'Annunzio "visited" Rijeka in 1919 with 2,000 Italian nationalist, forcing the withdrawal of the Allied (American, British and French) troups. D'Annunzio then declared Fiume an independent state. His best friend Benito Mussolini was inspired and encouraged by his friends "poetic" initiatives and started the Fashist movement in Italy and the rest is history...


Istria today



Tourism is the largest industry in Istria. There are 15 marinas with 3.400 berths in all tourist centers along the Istrian coast. They are very well equipped, offering all the facilities necessary to nautical experts, ranging from service to refueling, from shops to gastronomic offer in restaurants. There are sport activities like sailing, diving, water-skiing, surfing and jet-skiing.

Steep slopes, natural canyons, mountain trails and sheer rocks give the lovers of adventure the possibility to practice extreme sports like paragliding, free climbing, mountain biking, hang gliding, caving...
There are some extraordinary restaurants for good food lovers with genuine Istrian specialities.

Amphiteatre in Pula was venue to many concerts, including big International Stars like: Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Jose Carreras, Joe Cocker, Jamiroquai, Anastacia, Eros Ramazzoti, Norah Jones, Zucchero, Sinead O'Connor, Elton John, Michael Bolton...



The Pula Film Festival was established in 1953 and take place in the Pula amphiteatre.

Another eminent guest at this music and drama celebration in the Arena is the Oscar - winning actress,UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, an advocate and formidable fighter for peace, tolerance and reconciliation in the world - one and only - Vanessa Redgrave.
She played Isidora Duncan the 1920s ballet who forever changed peoplideas of ballet. Her dance projects as well as her attitudes on free love, debt, dress, and lifestyle shocked the public of her time. Isadora's final days somewhere on the French Riviera, she's obsessed with a handsome stranger driving Bugatti; it's a remarkable tale of early 20th century feminine liberation when corsets were still de rigueur. Vanessa Redgrave stuns with her beauty and talent.
She was nominated for Oscar but lost out to Barbara Streisand and Katherine Hepburn.
Opatija was an inspired choice to represent the French Riviera of the Twenties.