Rovinj (Rovigno in Italian) is coastal Istria’s legendary attraction. Although it might get overflowed with tourists in summer time, and inhabitants are getting a bright eye for maximising profits by improving hotels and restaurants to four star status, it remains one of the last true Mediterranean fishing ports. Fishers draw their catch into the harbour in the early morning, followed by a horde of screeching gulls, and patch their nets before lunch. Appeals for a good catch are sent forth at the large Church of St Euphemia, with its 60 m-high tower punctuating the peninsula. Wooded hills and low-rise hotels surround the old town webbed by steep, cobbled streets and piazzas. The 13 green, offshore islands of the Rovinj archipelago make for a pleasant afternoon away, and you can swim from the rocks in the sparkling water below Hotel Rovinj.
The old town of Rovinj is comprised within an egg-shaped peninsula, with the bus station just to the south-east. There are two harbours: the northern open harbour and the little, secure harbour to the south. Some 1.5 kilometers south of the old town is the Punta Corrente Forest Park and the wooded cape of Zlatni Rt (Golden Cape), with its age-old oak and pine trees, and a number of large hotels. A tiny archipelago lies just offshore; the most well known islands are Crveni Otok (Red Island), Sveta Katarina and Sveti Andrija.
Sights in Rovinj: Church of St Euphemia
The town’s showcase is the impressive church dominating the old town from its hilltop placement in center of the peninsula. Built in 1736, it’s the largest baroque building in Istria, showing the period during the eighteenth century when Rovinj was its most populous town. Inside the church, search the marble tomb of St Euphemia behind the right altar. Rovinj’s patron saint was tortured for her Christian faith by Emperor Diocletian before being thrown to the lions in 304. Reported by legend, the body left one dark and windy night only to appear off the coast of Rovinj in a spectral boat. The townspeople were unable to budge the heavy sarcophagus until a tiny boy appeared with two calves and moved it to the top of the hill, where it still stands in the present-day church. On the anniversary of her martyrdom (16 September), devotees congregate here. Modelled on the belfry of St Mark’s in Venice, the 60 meter bell tower is topped by a copper statue of St Euphemia, which shows the direction of the wind by spinning on a spindle.
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