Poreč

The history of Poreč is a history of continuous changes, a history of moving and leavening, fickelness of the people, rises and falls with one only constant, a history of new beginnings. The city of Poreč today still discovers traces of past civilizations and cultures that built its historical and urban identity through thousands of years. Its history was determined by Roman, Venetian, Austrian, Italian and Yugoslavian administrations, along with a series of other, shorter administrations that didn't leave a permanent sign on the town. The first traces of civilization on the Poreč peninsula dates back in the bronze age. Poreč gained the status of city under the roman administration and kept it until today, regardless the numerous discontinuities that happened in its millenial history. After the fall of the Roman Empire and a sequence of short and fast changes of power in Istria, Poreč became part of the Frank state in the 8th century. Early Middle age is still widely unknown. Half century of Venetian rule over Poreč was a rich and remarkable era in its history, marked by times of poverty and times of wealth. Between the 18th and the 19th century, Istria saw plenty of leavening and fights for power, until finally Austrian ruling was established and lasted until 1918. After that, Italian administration took over and lasted for almost 30 years that, albeit short, had a significant impact on the life in town. A new, Yugoslavian era started after World War II. The ethnicity of the population completely changed and tourism had a massive development until it became the main economic activity.