Piran - Slovenia's prettiest town

Piran is a small and very picturesque town is located in Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea.

The name of the town most probably originates from the Greek "pyrranos", which means "red", because of the reddish flysch stones commonly found in the town's area. Of the competing theories, is that it is derived from "pyr", the Greek word for "fire", because the peninsula was originally used primarily as a grounds for lighting fires to guide ships to the nearby settlement of Aegida.

The city has a very rich and turbulent history. The area of present-day Piran was settled by Illyrian tribes who were farmers, hunters and fishermen. In the next centuries the Piran peninsula was a part of Roman Empire, Byzantium Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Venetian Republic, French Empire, and Austro-Hungarian Empire. After World War I Piran came under the rule of Italy, and following World War II, Piran was a part of Yugoslavia, and from 1991 it is a city in the Republic of Slovenia. 

The town has much medieval architecture, with narrow streets and compact houses. Red roofs of that Slovenian town, with a deep blue of Adriatic Sea in the background, always makes me think of Dubrovnik. For nearly 500 years the both cities were part of the Venetian Republic. The Piran town walls were constructed to protect the town from Ottoman incursions, and are of interest to tourists. In the middle of the town is the Tartini Square, with a monument in memory of Giuseppe Tartini. Nearby are located various important buildings, such as Tartini’s house - one of the oldest in town, the Municipal Palace, Loggia and Benečanka, among others. On the hill above the town is the Church of Saint George, with a Franciscan monastery nearby.

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