Whilst exploring around Motovun, we stumbled across several railway tunnels and bridges, all without rails. Several locals told us the old constructions belonged to the Parenzana Railway.
Completed in 1902 on the route shown above, La Parenzana was the name of a railway that ran between Trieste, Italy, and Poreč, Croatia, until 1935. (Parenzo is the Italian name for Poreč - the Italians annexed Istria between the World Wars.)
After it started in Trieste, the railway passed Muggia and entered Slovenia at Škofije. It turned towards Koper, on the coast, and crossed the Dragonja River to enter Croatia. It then zig-zagged between Valica and Buje, climbed to Grožnjan, and soon after reached its highest point at 293 meters above sea level. It then descended until it reached Livade, where it forded the Mirna River. It started climbing again towards Motovun, Vižinada and Baldaši, and then gradually descended again, passed Višnjan, and finished in Poreč. At 123 kilometers in length, it was one of Europe’s longest narrow gauge railways.
Due to its sinuous route, the train’s average speed was only 25 kph. It took around 7 hours to complete the whole line. At slower sections passengers would jump off, pick fruit or go to the toilet and return back to the train. At the steepest sections the passengers often had to disembark and push the train.
The train was mainly used to transport agricultural products (fish and salt) to Trieste, and during World War I, it was used for military transport.
The railway couldn’t compete with new forms of transport, and with the Depression, the line was closed. The Italian fascists also thought its closure might be an opportunity to further persecute the Istrian population. In August, 1935, the last train ran. The legend is that the tracks were transported to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), then an Italian colony, but never reached Africa as the ship sunk somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.
Sections have been converted into a recreation trail for pedestrians and cyclists.
For Croatian speakers, there is a website for a group which wants to rebuild the railway as a tourism project - Croatian Association for the Parenzana’s Reconstruction . It still would be able to reconstruct 94% of the line in its original location. It would be excellent for tourism!
