Two Months in Italy and Istria
Rovigno, Istria, Coatia
July 22
It is strange here in Istria. Almost everyone understands Italian and often we encounter a group conversing but they do not use the Italian gestures and most people speak Croatian. Rovigno is truly lovely. There are countless spectacular views. For many centuries, it was one of the most important Venetian cities on this coast. They constructed a campanile for the church of Santa Eufemia that is a copy of the campanile in Saint Mark’s square in Venice. The Tower and church sit at the summit of the city facing the sea in the direction of Venice.
Beryl and I enjoy taking a walk at various times through the steep and narrow streets to this beautiful vantage point.
It is recounted that Santa Eufemia, martyred in 304 near Constantinople, sailed across the ocean in her stone coffin in the eighth century all the way to Rovigno. It seems to me that this is similar to the story of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. I imagine the seas of the middle ages filled with the tombs of saints going hither and thither.
Regarding the transport of stone across the ocean: the first day we discovered a large limestone quarry at a place called ‘golden point’. Later I read that Venice used this limestone to construct the Doge’s palace and also Santa Maria della Salute. Imagine the work of transporting so much limestone over a hundred kilometers across the sea from Rovigno to Venice by means of sail and oar!
The Lovely Daughter of Venice #1