Piran

Piran (Italian Piran, German outdated: Pirian ) is a town and municipality in southwestern Slovenia on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. With its picturesque location, its Old Town and Venetian architecture, the city is on the Slovenian Riviera is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Slovenia.

Population

The municipality has 17,000 inhabitants Piran to 45 km ². The town itself has 4,100 inhabitants.

78.6 % of the population at the 2002 census Slovenian citizens, 10.0% Croats, 5.4% Bosniaks, 2.8% Yugoslavs, 1.9% EU citizens (then EU -15 ), 0.8 % Macedonians and 0.6 % other.

The majority of the population (66.7 %) were in this census Slovenian as their mother language. Most important minority languages are Croatian ( 8.4%) and Italian ( 7.0%). Claims to Further spoke Serbo-Croatian 3.0%, 2.1%, Serbian, Bosnian 2.0% and 3.7% other languages.

Official languages of the municipality of Piran are Slovenian and Italian. Public signs are - as well as schools, kindergartens, and the University of Primorska - basically bilingual.

Geographical location

The Municipality of Piran borders Croatia to the south and to the east by the municipalities of Koper and Izola. It also has a maritime border with the north Italian territorial waters. The highest elevation is 289 m high Baretovec pri Padni. The city has regional Portorož Airport, as well as a marina.

Climate

The mild Mediterranean climate is characterized by high average temperatures ( January: 4.4 degrees, 21.5 degrees in July ). Three typical winds are found in this part of the Adriatic Sea: From the northwest of moderate Mistral ( Maestral ), the stronger, hot south wind " Yugo " ( Scirocco ) from the southeast from the Sahara and the stormy, gusty, cold case bora wind from the northeast with wind speeds up to 200 km / h which in winter up to two weeks in the summer often lasts only a few hours to a day.

Old town

The picturesque old town with its narrow streets extends over an approximately one kilometer long, pointed tongue of land in east-west direction. On the land side, it is divided by a partially preserved historical fortifications with battlements and towers.

The town center in the Italian - Venetian style comes up with interesting historical buildings and impressive views. The south beach promenade, the small port to the tip of the headland, is lined with numerous first class restaurants for the tourist crowd.

The city festival will take place on October 15.

Attractions

As a special piece of jewelry and the center of the city life of the restored Tartini Square ( Tartinijev trg, Piazza Tartini ) is considered. It was created in 1894 when the then lying at this point, become too small and used as a rubbish dump port was finally filled.

On the northern cliff of the peninsula, the St. George's Cathedral ( Sv Jurij ) overlooks the city. From here you can enjoy a scenic view over the winding streets and rooftops of the old town. The church tower of the cathedral is modeled after the Venetian campanile. The spire is adorned with a sword -bearing statue of the patron saint St. George. The figure rotates according to the wind direction, and thus serves the citizens of the city as a weather vane.

In the field of community - directly to the Croatian border - there is the natural park Sečovlje. Near the hamlet Strunjan one also finds the northernmost still managed salt flats of the Mediterranean.

Education

In addition to Slovenian and Italian kindergartens exist in Piran four Slovenian and Italian primary schools with approximately 1,700 children. In addition there are four secondary schools: grammar school Piran, High School " Antonio Sema " with Italian language lessons, " Mean Seefahrtschule Porto Rose" and the "Middle School of Public Health ." Finally, there is in the municipality nor the colleges for shipping and transport, hospitality and tourism and for industry ( "entrepreneurship" ).

Broadcaster

Piran is the location of a transmitter of Radio Televizija Slovenija for radio and television. As antenna support a 123.6 meter high lattice steel mast with a cage antenna is used, since it is also used for dissemination of two medium wave programs.

Districts

The Municipality of Piran includes the following districts ( population figures of 2002 census; sorting by postal locations)

Post 6330 Piran (Italian Piran 6330 ):

Post 6320 Portorož (Italian 6320 Porto Rose):

Post 6333 saltpans (Italian Sicciole 6333 ):

Sons and daughters of the town

Giuseppe Tartini ( born April 8, 1692 in Piran, † February 26, 1770 in Padua ), violinist and composer. The central square of the city ( Tartinijev trg / piazza Tartini ) is named after him. There, the musician was erected a situation created by the Venetian artist Antonio dal Zotto than-life statue in 1896 for the 200th birthday.
Cesare Dell'Acqua ( born July 22, 1821 in Piran, † February 16, 1905 in Brussels) Italian painter.
Domingo Brescia (1866-1929), Italian composer and music educator
Alenka Dovžan ( born February 11, 1976 in Piran), Slovenian alpine skier.

Patron

The patron saint of the town of Piran is Saint George. This is reflected in the blue bordered red cross of St. George of Coat of Arms. Furthermore, shows an illustration of the dragon slayer with a sword on the top of the church tower of the church of St George.

Traffic

Between 1909 and 1912 the city was the starting point of the railway track lots of Piran - Portorož, one of the first trolleybus companies in Austria. From 1912 to 1953 ran between Piran and Portoroz on five kilometers a tram with the unusual trams track width 760 mm. The Piran Bay as a waterway for the Slovenian port of Koper important.