United States or Ukraine ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
The Colleggiata is a late Renaissance building, but contains some interesting things, including a picture by Girolamo Santa Croce of the Madonna enthroned, with SS. Nicholas and Joseph, and a child angel with a violin on the plinth, signed and dated 1537, but restored.
Rovigno is thought to be the ancient Arupenum or Rubinum, but is first mentioned by the anonymous Ravennese chronicler, and was probably founded in the third or fourth century. In the walls of the principal church are fragments of sixth-century work. There is a tradition that it was founded when Cissa sank into the sea in the seventh century. The site of this city was near the modern lighthouse, and remains of its buildings are believed to be recognisable beneath the water at the point called Barbariga, on the further side of the Bay of S. Pelagio. The large beds of murex shells in certain places are an indication that there were purple dye-works here, an industry for which Cissa was celebrated. Rovigno is situated upon a rock, and was surrounded with walls. Within their area the houses, as seen from the sea or from the railway station behind the town, seem to be piled one over the other, and culminate very picturesquely in the campanile at the top. Beyond the railway station on the Bay of S. Pelagio are the Berlin aquarium for the study of the marine fauna of the Adriatic, and a sanatorium for scrofulous children, opened in 1888. The neighbourhood being fever-stricken the peasants live in the city, going and returning to their work morning and evening. Their Sunday costume consists of ornamented leather shoes, tight white hose of wool, a broad-sleeved white shirt with a frill in front, dark waistcoat, and flat black cap. They have the curious custom of wearing one large earring in the left ear. Rovigno is a good market for wine considered the best in Istria olives, sardines, and hazel-nuts which are reputed the finest in the world. Consequently, amongst the inhabitants are many merchants, and the fishers' guild is very numerous; but the steep streets are narrow and, in wet weather, noisome, and the children do not look as healthy as in many other places. During our stay we saw two funerals in the Colleggiata within a few hours, both attended by a red-robed confraternity which included boys and men. The spectacle in the darkening nave (for it was late afternoon) of the two rows of red-robed figures holding lighted tapers, with two or three ensigns or symbols in the background, was impressive, but marred by atrocious singing. The officiating priest was a fine man; and, as the cortège departed to the cemetery just below the church on the seaward side, there was an impression of solemnity which is often lacking in English funerals. A few late Venetian palaces, with fine loggias at the top to catch the sea-breezes, show above the other houses, and the arch between the fish-market and the Piazza S. Damiano, erected in 1680 under Daniele Balbi, still stands, with the Venetian lion holding a book proudly inscribed: "Victoria tibi Marce Evangelista meus"; but the walls have entirely disappeared, with the exception of one ruinous tower, the "Torre del Boraso," which has been in that state since the sixteenth century. At the beginning of the fourteenth century it belonged to the bishop of Pola; the Colleggio dei Cinque Savi acquired it in 1332, and ordered its occupation by the captain of the Pasenatico and the podest
There are also six arm reliquaries of the usual pattern, two of which have little doors of niello, two or three heads, and an ostensory, at the top of which is a thorn from the crown of thorns. The church of S. Simeone was a "Colleggiata," instituted in 1150 by Archbishop Lampridius, and dedicated to S. Stephen.
La Colleggiata is the ancient church of S. Maria Infunara, which Andreacci Saracenis founded, but was rebuilt in 1221, during the Servian period. It has a nave two bays in length, the first cross-vaulted, and the second with a dome enclosed within an octagonal drum, and with a barrel-vaulted presbytery before the apse. An aisle to the north, continued to the tower as a sacristy, is later.
The other has a crucifix with half-length figures, and consecration cross among the piercings, very roughly cut. The head is slightly pointed. The Colleggiata has been rebuilt in late Renaissance style; and the campanile, crowned by a figure of S. Eufemia, the patron saint of the town, is a copy of that of S. Mark's, Venice.
Word Of The Day