Pula

Pula (Pola in Italian) is Istria's largest city (55,000 inhabitants) and one of Croatia's most history-laden. Founded by the Romans in the 2nd century BC on a site already settled by the Illyrians, it was a major Roman colony under the name Colonia Pietas Iulia Pola — provincial capital of Istria for five centuries. The city today retains a Roman heritage of exceptional density: amphitheatre, Temple of Augustus, Arch of the Sergii, two urban gates (Hercules Gate, Twin Gate), forum, wall fragments — a true open-air Roman museum.

The centrepiece is, without question, the Roman amphitheatre — known locally as the Arena — built between 27 BC and AD 68 under Augustus, Vespasian and Titus. It is one of the six best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world (alongside the Colosseum in Rome, Verona, Nîmes, Arles and El Djem in Tunisia), and the only one to retain its full four tiers of towers — four corner towers overlooking the city. At 132 metres long, 105 metres wide and 32 metres high, the arena could seat 23,000 spectators for gladiator combats (until banned by Honorius in AD 404). Today it hosts concerts and operas every summer (Pula Film Festival since 1954 — the oldest film festival in the world still running, Outlook Festival, concerts by Sting, Andrea Bocelli, David Gilmour, Jamiroquai).

The Old Town wraps around the Roman Forum (still Pula's main square, 2,000 years after its construction), dominated by the Temple of Augustus (2 BC, almost perfectly preserved, turned into a church in the Middle Ages then restored as a Roman temple in the 20th century). Nearby, the Arch of the Sergii (29 BC, a family triumphal arch erected by the wealthy Sergii family to celebrate their part in the Battle of Actium alongside Octavian), the Hercules Gate (1st century BC, one of the city's oldest Roman monuments), the Twin Gate (2nd century AD). The cathedral and the Venetian fortress (Kaštel, 17th century) crowning the central hill (Istria History Museum) add a Byzantine-Venetian layer.

Pula was also one of the main military ports of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1813-1918) — naval base of the Imperial and Royal Navy (k.u.k. Kriegsmarine) with major shipyards still visible. This is where the battleships of the Austrian fleet were built before the First World War. The dry submarine U-Boat U-9 and the Naval History Museum bear witness to that era.