Rijeka is a Hungarian city where Croats speak Italian

Rijeka is the European Capital of Culture 2020, a city that during the twentieth century was part of six different countries.

“I love my city that flows,” locals say of their favorite city, which means “river” in Croatian.

The heart of Kvarner, the third largest city in Croatia after Zagreb and Split, is located almost on the border with Slovenia, near the Italian city of Trieste.

Everything here is mixed: languages, customs, traditions, culture of different peoples.

Where did the popular saying “Rieka is a Hungarian city where Croats speak Italian” come from? We will find out about this while walking around the city.

The symbol and protective sign of the city of Rijeka is "Morčić" - the head of a black man in a turban in the form of jewelry made of silver or gold, covered with colorful enamel. The tradition of wearing "Morčić" came to Rijeka in the 17th century from Venice, where black servants were in vogue. These jewelry as a protective amulet was worn and worn until now in the form of earrings, rings, pendants and brooches of both women and men. In Rijeka, "Morcici" decorate the facades of houses, and are also a symbol of the famous winter carnival.

We begin our acquaintance with the city on a bridge over a mountain river flowing into the sea, where after the end of the First World War, the border that divided the city for 20 years between two states was built, and a prototype of the famous Berlin Wall was built.

We will talk about the Italian writer, poet and politician Gabriel D Annunzio and his famous campaign to Rijeka in 1919, after which Rijeka received the status of an independent state for several years.

In the future, we will see the local “Leaning Tower of Pisa” – a medieval bell tower, popularly called the “Kosaya Tower”, the main pedestrian street of Korzo, which every winter becomes the center of the final procession of the Croatian carnivals, the theater square and the building of the Croatian folk theater, built according to the project of one of the best architectural bureaus of its time “Felner and Helmer”, we will learn why there are “Italian schools” in Rijeka and much, much more.

Well, we will finish our tour of Rijeka on the beautiful Trsat, located on a rock, at an altitude of 138 meters above sea level, from which there is a beautiful view of the city, and where there is a medieval castle built by representatives of the Croatian princely family Frankopan, and learn how the unknown princes, whose patrimony was the Croatian island of Krk, in the 15th century received from the Pope a new high-profile title and a beautiful surname “Frankopan”.

The most resistant will climb to Trsat along the “pilgrim path”: 564 steps lead from the city center to this place, which is the center of pilgrimage in the Catholic world. “Why?” we will find out during our walk around the city.

Welcome to Rijeka!