Dvigrad

Dvigrad, the twin town, Due Castelli in Italian, stands on the Moncastello hill in the Draga valley near Kanfanar, the largest ruins of a town in Istria: double defensive walls joined by three gates, three towers built in their present form in the 14th century, the remains of more than 200 buildings with the lanes between them, and at the centre and highest point the church of St Sophia, first built in the 5th century and given its three-aisled form in the 13th. The site was settled in prehistoric times, Dvigrad is first recorded in 879, and in 1413 it received its statute under Venice; plague returned at the end of the 14th century and malaria at the start of the 16th, by the middle of the 17th century only a few families remained, and when the parish moved to Kanfanar in 1714 the town came to its end. A regional heritage programme for South East Europe is working to preserve and rebuild it.

Background

Dvigrad, the twin town, known in Italian as Due Castelli and in Istriot as Docastei, is an abandoned medieval town in the Draga valley in central Istria, western Croatia. People lived on the site from prehistoric times until the 18th century, and a regional heritage programme for South East Europe is working to preserve and rebuild it; the castle has also been called Duo Castra and Dvograd.

Source: Wikipedia, "Dvigrad"

Highlights

• A whole town in ruin - walls, gates and lanes between more than 200 buildings.
• Emptied by the 18th century - the parish left for Kanfanar in 1714.
• The basilica of St Sophia - at the highest point of the site.
• Double walls - joined by three gates, with three 14th-century towers.

When to go

Any time of year.

Good to know

Dvigrad is a ruin, and a regional heritage programme is still working to preserve and rebuild it.

Nearby

Kanfanar, about 2.2 km (1.4 mi) to the east, keeps St Sophia's Gothic pulpit in its parish church of St Silvester, and Rovinj is about 15 km (9.2 mi) to the west-south-west, both in a straight line.

Key facts