Fazana

Fazana is a small waterfront village facing the Brijuni islands across a narrow channel, and it is the point of departure for the national park ferry, which is what brings most people. Its own history is the pilchard: a sardine cannery worked here from the late nineteenth century, among the earliest on this coast, and the fish shaped the local economy for generations. The village keeps that with a summer festival built around sardines grilled on the waterfront, and the harbour front is lined with restaurants doing the same thing. Roman kilns that produced amphorae for Istrian oil have been excavated nearby.

History

Fažana is of Roman origin: its land was Roman by 177 BC and belonged to the colony of Pula. From late in the reign of Augustus until the 2nd century AD a workshop in the centre of today's village made bricks, pottery and above all amphorae, in which Istrian oil and wine, grain and salted fish were shipped; it belonged to the local Laecanii family, its first known owner being the praetor Gaius Laecanius Bassus, and many of the jars carry the signatures of the men who made them. Wealthy Romans built villas around the harbour, among them the villa at Valbandon, 2 kilometres away, with floors of floral and geometric patterns. In the 6th century the church of Sant'Eliseo rose on the foundations of a late Roman palace; the small church of Santa Maria del Carmelo followed in the 14th century, with 15th-century frescoes, and in the 15th century the Gothic church of Saints Cosmas and Damian was built by the sea, with a 27-metre bell tower and a Last Supper by Giorgio Ventura of 1598 (Wikipedia, Fažana).

What's there

• The ferry to Brijuni - leaving from the village harbour.
• An early sardine cannery - among the first on this coast.
• A sardine festival in summer - fish grilled along the waterfront.
• Roman amphora kilns - excavated in the area.

When to go

June to September, when the ferries and the festival run. Half a day.

What to expect

Brijuni tickets should be booked ahead in summer and the ferry is the main reason to be here. The village itself is small and quickly seen. Parking near the harbour is difficult in season. Beaches are shallow rock.

Nearby

Brijuni is across the channel; Pula is south.

Key facts