Rovinj (Rovigno in Italian) is coastal Istria’s principal attraction. While it can get invaded with travelers in summer time, and inhabitants are growing a sharp eye for increasing earnings by improving hotels and restaurants to four star status, it keeps to be one of the last true Mediterranean fishing ports. Fishers draw their catch into the harbour in the early morning, followed by a horde of squawking gulls, and patch their nets before lunch. Appeals for a good catch are sent forth at the huge Church of St Euphemia, with its sixty m-high tower punctuating the peninsula. Forested hills and low-rise resorts surround the old town webbed by steep, cobbled streets and piazzas. The thirteen green, offshore islands of the Rovinj archipelago make for just 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 northwestern open harbour and the little, protected harbour to the south. About 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 several big hotels. A small archipelago lies just offshore; the most well-liked islands are Crveni Otok (Red Island), Sveta Katarina and Sveti Andrija.
Sights in Rovinj: Church of St Euphemia
The town’s show window is the impressive church towering the old town from its hilltop location in center of the peninsula. Built in 1736, it’s the largest baroque construction in Istria, reflecting the period during the eighteenth century when Rovinj was its most populated town. Inside the church, search the marble tomb of St Euphemia behind the right-hand altar. Rovinj’s patron saint was tormented for her Christian faith by Emperor Diocletian before being given to the lions in 304. Reported by legend, the body vanished one dark and stormy night only to show up off the coast of Rovinj in a spectral boat. The townspeople were unable to budge the heavy sarcophagus until a small 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 campanile of St Mark’s in Venice, the 60 m bell tower is topped by a copper statue of St Euphemia, which points the direction of the wind by turning on a spindle.
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