Piran

Piran (Italian: Pirano) is a city and municipality in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. The city resembles a large open-air museum, with medieval architecture and a rich cultural heritage. Narrow streets and compact houses give the town its special charm. Piran is the administrative centre of the local area and one of Slovenia's major tourist attractions.

History

In the pre-Roman era, the hills in the Piran area were inhabited by Illyrian Histri tribes who were farmers, hunters and fishermen. They were also pirates who disrupted Roman trade in the north Adriatic Sea.^[2] The Piran peninsula was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 178 and 177 BC and settled in the following years with rural homes (ville rusticae). The decline of the Empire, from the 5th century AD onwards, and incursions by the Avars and Slavs at the end of the 6th century, prompted the Roman population to withdraw into easily defensible locations such as islands or peninsulas. This started local urbanisation and by the 7th century, under Byzantine rule, Piran had become heavily fortified. Despite the defences, the Franks conquered Istria in 788 and Slavs settled in the region. By 952, Piran had become a part of the Holy Roman Empire.^[2] The earliest reliable records of the area are in the 7th century work Cosmographia by an anonymous cleric of Ravenna. Here, the name "Piranon" (Piran, Πιράνον in Greek) was referred to as a Roman town on the Istrian coast.^[2]

On 22 February 1812, the Battle of Pirano was fought between a British and a French ship of the line in the vicinity of Piran. This was a minor battle of the Adriatic campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Rivoli had been recently completed at Venice. The French naval authorities intended her to bolster French forces in the Adriatic, following a succession of defeats in the preceding year. Captain John Talbot of HMS Victorious arrived off Venice in mid-February and blockaded the port. When Rivoli attempted to escape under the cover of fog, Talbot chased her and forced her to surrender in a five hour battle, Rivoli lost over half her crew as either wounded or dead. This was the only battle ever fought in the sea nowadays belonging to Slovenia.

The first trolleybus line in the Balkans was introduced to public service on 24 October 1909 in Piran, then part of Austria-Hungary. It ran from the Tartini Square, the central square of the town, along the coast and the shipyard to Portorož and Lucija. The town authorities bought five trolleybuses manufactured by the Austrian company Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft.^[3][4] In 1912, it was replaced by a tram that operated on the same route till 1953.

On 24 October 2010, Slovenia became the first country of former communist Europe to elect a black mayor. The physician Peter Bossman, who came over from Ghana in the late 1970s, was elected mayor of Piran. He officially took office at the first constitutional meeting of the municipal council on 12 November 2010, succeeding Tomaž Gantar.^[5] He represents the Social Democrats.^[6][7]

Culture and education

Piran is the birthplace of composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini, who played an important role in shaping its cultural heritage. The town's main square, Tartini Square (Slovene: Tartinijev trg, Italian: Piazza Tartini), is named after him. In 1892, to mark the 200th anniversary of Tartini's birth, the people of Piran decided to erect a monument in his honour. Venetian artist Antonio dal Zotto was commissioned to create the larger-than-life bronze statue of the maestro, which was eventually mounted on its pedestal in 1896. The statue dominates the square, overlooked by the Cathedral of Saint George.

Piran is now the seat of the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI), founded in 2008 as one of the cultural projects of the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean.

Cultural events

The municipality's festival is on October 15, which celebrates the foundation of the first Slovenian partisan naval detachment named Koper, in 1944. This was the first ever Slovenian naval military unit.

Geography and climate

Piran is situated at the tip of the Piran peninsula on the Gulf of Piran. It borders Croatia to the south, and the municipalities of Izola and Koper to the east and faces Italy across the Gulf of Trieste and the Adriatic Sea. The highest point, Baretovec pri Padni, is 289 metres high.^[8]

To the east of the city, along the northern coastline (in the direction to Strunjan) there is a small tourist settlement named Fiesa. Piran and Fiesa are connected by a promenade along the beach.

Piran has a Humid subtropical climate with warm summers and cool rainy winters. Snow is rare (usually 3 days per year, almost always in traces). There are 22 days a year with maximum of 30 °C (86 °F) or higher, while one day a year temperature does not exceed 0 °C (32 °F). Fog appears in about 4 days per year, mainly in winter. The climate is also characterized by frequent rainfall.

Demographics

The municipality has 16,758 (2002) inhabitants and covers an area of 46.6 square kilometres; the town has 4,576 (2002) inhabitants in a single square kilometre. The municipality is bilingual, both Slovene and Italian are official languages.^[9] According to the Austrian language census of 1910, there were 7,379 inhabitants in the town proper, 95,97% Italians and 0,09% Slovenes. In the surrounding countryside, which is now included within the city limits, the population was mixed, both Italian and Slovene, with some villages (like Sveti Peter or Padna) which were almost entirely Slovene, and others (like Sečovlje or Seča) that were almost exclusively Italian-speaking. In 1945, there were 5,035 citizens, 91,32% Italians and 8,54% Slovenes. In 1956. there were 3.574 inhabitants, 67,6% Slovenes and 15,5% Italians. After 1947, the ethnic composition changed radically due to the migration of Italians to Italy and their replacement with Slovene settlers, both from other areas of Slovenian Istria and from interior areas of the country.

Important monuments

Piran was heavily influenced by the Venetian Republic and Austria-Hungary, therefore the monuments differ greatly from the ones in inner parts of Slovenia. The Piran town walls were constructed to protect the town from Ottoman incursions, and many parts of the city walls from different eras remain up to this day and are important attractions for tourists. In the middle of the town the Tartini Square is located, on which a monument in memory of Giuseppe Tartini stands since 1896. Nearby are located various important buildings, such as, Tartini’s house which is first mentioned in 1384, and is one of the oldest in town, the Municipal Palace, Loggia and Benečanka, among others. On the hill above the town is the biggest and most important church, the Church of Saint George, with the Franciscan monastery nearby.

Communications and transport

The municipality has an international airport^[10] and a marina.^[11] Piran is also the transmission site of the mediumwave transmitter of Radio Koper. It works on 1170 kHz and uses as an antenna a 123.6 metres tall guyed mast with cage antenna. The town is also connected with Koper, Izola, Portorož (the location of the airport including), Sečovlje and Lucija by a cheap bus line, while the bus line connecting to the parking lot in Fornače is free. The lines ot other coastal settlement operate mostly during the tourist season.^[12]

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Piran participates in town twinning arrangements to encourage international contacts and understanding.

References

External links

• Municipality of Piran
• Information Portal of Piran
• Multimedia Center of Piran
• Piran on Geopedia
• Piran travel guide from Wikitravel