Medulin, a town situated at an elevation of 29 meters above sea level, is the seat of the eponymous municipality. Thanks to modern urbanization and tourism development, it expanded southward, descending to Medulin Bay.
The advantages of life here were already recognized in prehistory, as shown by finds from the Neolithic at Vižula and Vrčevan and the Bronze and Iron Ages at Punta Kašteja and Vrčevan. It is in fact at the latter that the Histrian hillfort of Mutila was located, mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his discussion of the Histrian-Roman war.
Medulin Bay, which cuts deeply into the interior, was a vital location for safe anchorages by ancient sailors on trade voyages in the Adriatic. The numerous berths for the gathering of produce from the nearby fertile hinterland testify to highly-developed agricultural production and processing at coastal estates today known as villae rusticae.
Ladonja, which literally means ‘shade tree’, in the Medulin outdoor market is the national entry for European Tree of the Year in 2021; it was planted in the early 20th century and is over 115 years old.
The intense commercial activities that proceeded in the entire latter half of the 19th century were conducive to Medulin’s economic growth. During this economic boom, the brothers Ivan and Andrea Pošić, marine salt fish dealers from Rovinj, arrived in Medulin in 1872 and decided that this coastal locale was best suited to their business plans, and they built two “mills powered by sails or wind.”
Metilinum, Medilinum, Medelinum are the names for this place since the 12th century, a territory owned by secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords, and a defensive tower and loggia were registered in the foundations of the town square. The plagues that ravaged Europe in the 16th century left the village virtually deserted, so that in the 17th century it was settled by newcomers from the southern and northern Adriatic hinterland.
After the First World War, many residents left Medulin in a wave of economic and political migration, while some returned after the Second World War and put their abilities to use in the development of urban renewal, tourism and agriculture.
Today Medulin is a major tourism hub.
Fr. Luka Kirac
Medulin, 1860 - Rakotule, 1931, Croatian Catholic priest, politician and activist in Croatia’s national awakening. Besides his pastoral duties, he also worked on raising national consciousness. He participated in the establishment of the Croatian Sokol in Medulin in 1911, he established a fishing cooperative, participated in the work of the People’s Reading Room, served as president of the Medulin Credit Union and worked to promote Medulin as a tourism destination. He was active in the Istrian Territorial Diet, advocating for the sick and impoverished in rural areas, where living conditions and medical care were quite poor.Mate Demarin, Ph.D.
Medulin, 1899 - Zagreb, 1992, Croatian education expert after whom the primary school in Medulin is named. Besides his pedagogic efforts, he was also a scholar, writer, historian, chronicler and exemplary methodological problemsolver. During his lifetime, a selection of his works was published in the book “The Pedagogue and His World.”Ivan Cukon, Ph.D.
Medulin, 1868 - Zagreb, 1928, Croatian attorney, politician, activist for the rights of Istrian Croats. In 1912, he wrote of the celebratory Istrian song “Lovely Land, Dear Istria, Home of the Croatian Folk,” which was put to music by Matko Brajša Rašan.Izrada Web aplikacije sufinancirana je sredstvima Europske unije iz Europskog fonda za regionalni razvoj.