Tartini Square (
Slovene: ''Tartinijev trg'',
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
: ''Piazza Tartini'') is the largest and main
town square
A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...
in
Piran
Piran (; ) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. A bilingual city, with population speaking both Slovene and Italian, Piran is known for its medieva ...
,
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
. It was named after violinist and composer
Giuseppe Tartini
Giuseppe Tartini (8 April 1692 – 26 February 1770) was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in Pirano in the Republic of Venice (now Piran, Slovenia). Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred pieces for the ...
, of whom a monument was made in 1896.
History
The square was once an inner dock for smaller vessels, such as fishing boats, and was located outside of the first city walls.
In the Middle Ages the dock became surrounded by important buildings and palaces, because of which it became an important site of the town. However, because of the sewage which ended up there, the officials decided to bury the dock and set up a ''real'' square there in 1894. Around the newly created platform various new buildings appeared, including the town hall. Of those buildings, the only one that still has the original exterior is the
Gothic house named Benečanka (''Venetian house''), dating to the 15th century.
The sculptor of the 1896 bronze monument to Tartini was
Antonio Dal Zòtto.
From 1909 to 1912, a
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
path was made which connected Piran to the train station in
Lucija, where the
Parenzana
The Parenzana in Italian or Porečanka in Slovene and Croatian is one of the nicknames of a defunct 760mm/15 15/16 inch narrow gauge railway (operating between 1902 and 1935) between Trieste and Poreč (at that time Parenzo, hence the name '' ...
railway was made, which connected
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
and
Poreč
Poreč (; known also by several alternative names) is a town and municipality on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, in Istria County, west Croatia. Its major landmark is the 6th-century Euphrasian Basilica, which was designated a UN ...
with various other towns. After 1912, the trolleybus was replaced by the more efficient
tram
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...
, which was operational until 1953 when it was abolished. On the 300th anniversary of Tartini's birth, a huge renovation of the square occurred when an ellipse platform was formed out of white stone, designed by architect
Boris Podrecca
Boris Podrecca (born 30 January 1940 in Belgrade) is a Slovene-Italian architect and urban designer living in Vienna, Austria. Podrecca is considered by some critics a pioneer of postmodernism. He took a new, more tolerant attitude towards histo ...
.
Present
In recent years there have been some changes to reduce the number of personal vehicles within the square in favor of tourism, so during the main season (July 1 to September 1) no vehicles are allowed to park within the square; instead they have to park in the town's car park in Fornače. There is also a line of free mini-buses which drive from Piran to various other coastal towns in the main season.
Gallery
File:Tartini statue.jpg, Giuseppe Tartini statue
File:Piran19century.jpg, The docks before the platform
of the square was made
File:Cantina bar (1622993672).jpg, Cantina bar
See also
*
Slovenian Istria
Slovene Istria is a region in southwest Slovenia. It comprises the northern part of the Istrian peninsula and is part of the wider geographical-historical region known as the Slovene Littoral. Its largest urban center is Koper. Other large settle ...
*
Slovenian Littoral
The Slovene Littoral, or simply Littoral (, ; ; ), is one of the traditional regions of Slovenia. The littoral in its name – for a coastal-adjacent area – recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg poss ...
References
External links
Municipality of PiranTartini Square on Geopedia*
{{coord, 45, 31, 42.66, N, 13, 34, 6.22, E, type:landmark_region:SI, display=title
Piran
Squares in Slovenia