LABIN (ALBONA), PLOMIN (FIANONA),
BARBAN (BARBANA), RASA (ARSIA)
LABIN, ALBONA
Labin
(Albona) is an interesting city situated on a hill at 320 m . The city was founded from
the Celts probably in IV century bC. To visit it's the medieval part enclosed by
venetian walls, inside are the parochial church, the Romanesque church of S. Stefano, the
Palace Battiala-Lazzarini, the Scampicchio Palace. Outside from the walls is the public
square Tito (Titov Trg), where is the town hall of Austrian age and the Venetian loggia
(of 1550).
This old
and evocative village is nearly completely abandoned. Fianona is situated on a hill
dominant the Plomin (Fianona) fjord. It was a "castelliere" and then, in roman
age, an important center of trade situated on the "via Flavia". In 1420 it
passed to Venice. In 1599 the Uscocchi assaults Fianona, plundering it. After the fall of
Venice (in 1797) and the French parenthesis, with the treaty of Campoformio the Istrian
peninsula passed to Austria maintaining itself always an important commerce center. After
the first world war it was assigned to Italy. The exodus of great part of the population
after the events of the second world war has left Fianona in the actual state of partial
abandonment. Inside of the village there are two interesting churches: San Giorgio il
Vecchio (century XI) and the parochial of the Beata Vergine Maria (1474).
Barbana d' Istria (Barban) is a beautiful fortified
village in Istria situated between Albona (Labin) and Pola (Pula) 229 meters on the sea
level, the village was built in 14th century for wanting of the Conti di Gorizia,
passed to Venice that in 1535 gave it as feudo to the Loredan family. The center of the
village is the public square where is the Town hall (1555), the Loggia (1550, but
reconstructed in 1945) and the Palace Loredan (17th-18th century). The church of Saint
Nicholas (1700) encloses in its interior 5 baroque altars in marble, paintings of
venetian's school of the 16th and 18th century, the bell tower was built using one of the
old tower of the town-walls. Of its walls remain the Great Door (1718) and the Small Door
(1720). Other churches are those of Sant'Antonio Abate and San Giacomo.
The little
town of Rasa (Arsia), is found 5 km southwest of Labin (Albona). Rasa (Arsia)
is Istria's youngest town, planned by architect Pulitzer-Finali for the needs of the Rasa
(Arsia) coal mines in1934. The structure of the town represents an example of a
working-class settlement with standardized form of houses, a square, fountain, school,
church and hotel. The church of St. Barbara has the roof in form of an overturned coal
wagon and a bell tower shaped as a miner's lamp. The whole town displays a modern type of
the infrastructure of those times.
