“Rising dramatically from the Adriatic as though being pulled up to heaven by its grand bell tower, Rovinj is a welcoming Old World oasis in a sea of tourist kitsch. Among the villages of Croatia’s coast, there’s something particularly romantic about Rovinj/Rovinjo–the most Italian town in Croatia’s most Italian region. Rovinj’s streets are delightfully twisty, its ancient houses are characteristically crumbling, and its harbor—lively with real-life fishermen—is as salty as they come. Like a little Venice on a hill, Rovinj is the atmospheric setting of your Croatian seaside dreams.

Because the town was part of the Republic of Venice for five centuries (13th to 18th centuries), its architecture, culture, and even language are strongly Venetian. The local folk groups sing in a dialect actually considered more Venetian than what the Venetians themselves speak these days.”

       ~from Rick Steves’ Croatia and Slovenia by Rick Steves, Cameron Hewitt