Istria is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Kvarner Gulf. It is shared by three countries: Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy, with 90% of surface area being part of Croatia. Croatia encapsulates most of the Istrian peninsula within Istria County.
The Istriot language is a Romance language of the Italo-Dalmatian branch spoken by about 400 people in the southwestern part of the Istrian peninsula in Croatia, particularly in Rovinj and Vodnjan. It should not be confused with the Istrian dialect of the Venetian language or the more distantly related Istro-Romanian, a variety of Eastern Romance.
Istria County is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula.
Umag is a coastal town in Istria, Croatia.
The Italian language is an official minority language in Croatia, with many schools and public announcements published in both languages. Croatia's proximity and cultural connections to Italy have led to a relatively large presence of Italians in Croatia. Italians were recognized as a state minority in the Croatian Constitution in two sections: Istrian Italians and Dalmatian Italians. Although only 0.43% of the total population is Italian by citizenship, many more are ethnically Italian and a large percentage of Croatians speak Italian, in addition to Croatian.
The Stato da Màr or Domini da Mar was the Republic of Venice's maritime and overseas possessions from around 1000 to 1797, including at various times parts of what are now Istria, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Albania, Greece and notably the Ionian Islands, Peloponnese, Crete, Cyclades, Euboea, as well as Cyprus.
Brovinje Italian: Brovigne is a small settlement/hamlet, in Istria County in Croatia, with a little more than 50 houses in 1950. It is located in the Labinština peninsula of Istria County, Croatia. Overlooking the Gulf of Kvarner in the northern Adriatic Sea including the island of Croatian: Cres, Italian: Cherso. It is located 13 km south-east of Labin and 3 km north of Koromačno/Valmazzinghi. The first written record with the name Brovinje is recorded in the old St. Lucia church books on birth, marriages and deaths in 1705 which are held in Pazin, Istria. Brovinje is a hamlet which is under the Raša municipality.
Koromačno is a small hamlet adjacent to the cement factory for which it was built in the early 1900 for the workers. It is also a small port to accept small cargo ships to carry the cement to other placed to be processed. It is located in the southernmost tip of the Croatian: Labinština, Italian: L'Albonese peninsula in Istria County in Croatia. It is nestled between Croatian: Crna Punta and Croatian: Ubac on the Gulf of Quarnero in the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the newest hamlet not even 100 years old. It is located about 15 km from Croatian: Labin / Italian: Albona, 1 km from Croatian: Brovinje, 3 km from Croatian: Skitača.
Istrian Italians are an ethnic group from the Adriatic region of Istria in modern northwestern Croatia and southwestern Slovenia. Istrian Italians descend from the original Latinized population of Roman Histria, from the Venetian-speaking settlers who colonized the region during the time of the Republic of Venice, and from the local Croatian people who culturally assimilated.
Istrian stone, pietra d'Istria, the characteristic group of building stones in the architecture of Venice, Istria and Dalmatia, is a dense type of impermeable limestones that was quarried in Istria, nowadays Croatia; between Portorož and Pula. Limestone is a biogenetic stone composed of calcium carbonate from the tests and shells of marine creatures laid down over eons. Istrian stone approaches the compressive strength and density of marble, which is metamorphosed limestone. It is often loosely referred to as "marble", which is not strictly correct.
Italians of Croatia are an autochthonous historical national minority recognized by the Constitution of Croatia. As such, they elect a special representative to the Croatian Parliament. There is Italian Union of Croatia and Slovenia, in Croat Talijanska Unija, in Slovene Italijanska Unija, which is Croat-Slovene organization with main site in Fiume-Rijeka and secondary site in Capodistria-Koper of Slovenia.
Labinština is the geographical and historical name of the eastern part of Istria county in Croatia. It covers an area of approximately 220 km2 that is 25 km long and 13 km wide. Geographical borders in the west are the Raša river, and the bay of the same name, in the south and east the sea, and in the north Plomin Bay, the southern part of the Učka massif and Kvarner Bay, and, until the beginning of the 20th century, Lake Čepić. The center is Labin after which it is named. Labin was the head township of the Labinština or Agro Albonese under the Roman Empire, during the Venice Republic between 1365 and 1797, the Austrian rule between 1814-1918 and many other occupations by foreign armies.
Skitača is a small hamlet in northwest Croatia, in the eastern coast of Istria County, and is one of many settlements scattered in the County. These small settlements started to form in the 13-14th century continuing into the 19th century when Napoleon occupied the area. Even later when the Austria-Hungary got this region. During the early centuries most of the people came from the eastern parts of Europe as workers imported by rich landowners. Later, some came as refugees from territories taken by the Tatars and Turkish. Some of people which took refuge were Croats, Montenegrins, Serbs, Romanians, Bosnians, Albanians, Greeks, and other Eastern Europeans.
The township Croatian: Cerovica / Italian: Cerovizza is bordered on the east by the sea of Quarnero from S.Martino to Brovinje; to the North by the Township Chermenizza; and to the East by the Township Croatian: Vlakovo, Istria. The head hamlet of the Township of Cerovica was Croatian: Skitača Italian: Schitazza which is located approximately 4 km north-east of Brovinje. In the hamlet of Skitača is the chapel of Saint Lucy of Albona which became a parish church for all of the Township of Cerovica. The small chapel was built in 1616 and became a Parish in 1632. The last time it was renovated was in the 1990s.
Sveti Lovreč Labinski is a small hamlet in Raša municipality, Istria County, Croatia. The church, built in the early 17th century, is also the Parish church and has the same name as the hamlet. During the Austria-Hungary occupation, it belonged to the municipality of Vlahovo, just west of the Municipality of Cerovica.
The Istrian Circle or Circle of Istria was a province of the Kingdom of Illyria from 1825 until 1849. It was formed by merging the circle of Trieste with the district of Pisino, thus reuniting most of the Istrian peninsula. In 1849 Illyria was reincorporated into the Austrian Empire and Istria returned to being a crownland (Kronland) of Austria as the March of Istria. The capital of the Istrian Circle was Pisino. The circle was divided into the following districts: Albona, Bellai, Buie, Capodistria, Cherso, Dignano, Lussino, Montona, Parenzo, Buzet, Pirano, Pisino, Rovigno, Pula, Veglia and Volosca.
Istria County is the most northern county in Croatia.
The chapel and Parish named St. Lorenzo in Produbas is located in a hamlet of St Lorenzo d'Albona in Istria County, Croatia. The hamlet of St Lorenzo d'Albona (in Italian), Sv Lovreč Labinski (in Croatian) consists of two small settlements, Diminići (in Croatian) and Kobavići (in Croatian), which are located south of Albona (in Italian)or Labin (in Croatian). St Lorenzo in Prodibas was one of the 12 townships which divided the Agro Albonese (in Italian), Labinština (in Croatian) into 12 Parishes or Župa (in Croatian) or 12 Comuni (in Italian) or Municipality in 1632. Today this chapel is called St Lorenzo di Albona or Sv Lovreč Labinski. The chapel was built in the 1608. and became a Parish in 1632. In the front of the chapel there are two plaques or epigraph in Latin writing explaining the year it was built. The altar was crafted in Dubasnica a hamlet on the Island of Veglia (in Italian)/Krk (in Croatian)located near Fiume (in Italian)/Rijeka (in Croatian)Istria, Croatia, in the bay of Kvarner (in Croatian)/Quarnero (in Italian),northern Adriatic golf, and near the neighboring island of Cres (in Croatian)/Cherso (in Italian)in northern Croatia. The altar was donated by a Priest Martin Viscović in 1663.
The District of Albona was one of many Districts which were named in Istria County, Croatia. A District is one of the lowest Administrative Division that, in some countries and at various historic times, was managed by the local government, and such was Albona. District in Italian "Distretto" is also called by other names; Quartiere (Neighborhood), Circondario (District), Provincia (Province), Circonscrizione, Regione (Region), Rione (District), Dipartimento (Department), it is a division of something greater.
Sebastiano Schiavone da Rovigno also known as Sebastiano Schiavone and Sebastiano da Rovigno, Bastian Virgola and nicknamed Zoppo was a woodcarver and marquetry artist from Rovigno in the Republic of Venice.
