Croatian: Koromačno or Italian: Valmazzinghi is located in the southernmost tip of the Croatian: Labinscina Italian: L'Albonese peninsula in Istria County in Croatia. It is nestled between Croatian: Crna Punta and Croatian: Ubac on the Gulf of Quarnero of the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the newest hamlet not even 100 years old. It is located about 15km from Croatian: Labin Italian: Albona, 1 km from Croatian: Brovinje, 3 km from Croatian: Skitača. Koromačno, is named after a local wild plant, Croatian: koromaz, Italian: fenucchia fennel, which grows wildly all along the coastal area.
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The coast is beautiful but is mainly very rocky. However there are some small beaches scattered throughout the coast. The Koromačno beach is next to the factory pier. The Dobra beach is overlooked by the apartments in the hamlet of Dobra. The next beach is called Priponj beach and there are no dwellings nearby. This is a beautiful secluded beach nestled between rouch and rocky coast. Following this is a small beach which locals call Presicin beach.
On the east side of the cement factory, is the location of the beautifulVoscice beach. This beach has only a small inlet from the Gulf of Quarnero. The next beach is located not far, on the east side of Voscice, is called Barloda beach. There are many such beautiful small beaches, one better than the other, on the coast of Istria. Tourists from all over Europe vacation on this beautiful coast. All the beaches consist of small rounded flat stones of many different colors.
In the early 1900 each of the properties of the area near the coast, where the future cement operation was to be built, were bought up by the Sicilian Industrialist Mr.Conigliero from the society S.P.E.M.A. The Director was Mr.D'Aquisto who lived temporarily in Brovinje. Mr. Conigliero visited, Koromačno with his wife once a year bringing gifts for all the children. Between 1920 and 1940 the hamlet, Valmazzinghi as it was called then, sprung up after the new cement factory was established. There was need for housing as more and more new people came to work and settle there. In the 1940 the chapel of St. Giuseppe was built in Koromačno, after WW2 the chapel became a movie theater. Then the bell tower was removed and later it became a market as it is today.
On the lower side of the road, Labin to Koromačno, at the very beginning of the hamlet, stands the building which was the Koromačno one room schoolhouse for grades 1-5 in the 1940-50's. The teacher's apartment occupied the second floor. Outside the front door of the building was the bell which let the teacher signal the children to come in the classroom. There were three rows of double desks on the first floor classroom. The teacher seated an older child next to the beginner child so that the older one would help the young one. As the population of children grew additional classrooms were needed. Each classroom had a specific grade. One of these classroms was the house, the first one in Koromačno, which was located right across from the one room schoolhouse and on the upper side of the road. This was the Glavicich (Lemeh) house. The classroom, second grade, was located on the ground floor.
Next to the hamlet Koromačno, the cement factory built a group buildings with multiple apartments in each. This hamet is called Dobra. These modern apartments, at the time, were made specifically for workers and families which migrated to the area. Some of these apartments were empty at the beginning. The need for classroom space made it necessary to occupy some of these empty apartments as the children population increased. A few miles north there is another hamlet calledCroatian: Brovinje. From Brovinje going east is the hamlet of Croatian: Skitača where the parish church of Italian: St Lucia is still standing since the year 1616. From Brovinje going west is the hamlet of Croatian: Viškoviči and Croatian: Diminici where the church of Croatian: Sv Lovreč Labinskistill standing since 1616. The cement factory became a very important employer for the local communities between the two wars. After WW2 automation caused jobs to disappear to a minimum at the end of the 20th century.
The antique Roman signaling tower Croatian: Turan , also called Croatian: Ivanac and Italian: St. Giovanni in Besca, was demolished in the late 1900 by the cement factory's progress in mining the quarry. These antique signaling towers were constructed under the Roman Empire and also used under the Venice Republic. At night a fire was lit and by day smoke was used to signal the other towers within view. These towers were constructed in a net pattern so that each would be able to communicate with a few others.
The small country chapel of the 14th or 15th century called Italian: St. Giovanni Battista or Italian: Sv. Ivan is located 100 meters north of the Turan. This chapel belonged to the Abbey by the same name. The Abbey consisted of a two story house, to the rear a separate building with rooms which each friar occupied. The Abbey was abandoned in the mid 16th century. The house was occupied by the farmer-worker (colonist) who took care of the property of the church. With the breakup of the noble class and the church property, the colonist farmer became possessor of the property in many areas.
The gravel road from Labin to Koromačno and from Brovinje to Skitača was built in the 1930-40. Later it was cemented for easy travel. The company built a ship docking area to load the cement and to unload the coal, on which the factory operated. Later it became minor port and occasionally the cargo ships brought Italian passengers to the area for vacation. Today the whole region is a booming vacation spot which more and more people discover yearly.
There was an immense change in that area in the last one hundred years. Communication and travel was made easy. Telephone was in operation at the central office and later at the Post Office. A regular bus schedule to Labin made it possible for the people to travel in less than one hour compare to walking 3 hours. In the late 1950s the electrification and a central water system arrived in the area. In the late 1990 the gravel roads were cemented for easy travel. The people who vacation yearly in the area come from all parts of Europe, and the US to enjoy the air and the sea.