Guest House

ABOUT US

House "Castrum" is located in the historic streets of the city of Rovinj, which echo the sounds of steps, voices and laughter, while above it you can hear the cries of gulls. The traditional Rovinj house from the beginning of the last century, was restored in July of 2016 and turned into a modern accommodation that combines tradition with comfort and functionality of the 21st century.

During the reign of the Roman Empire Rovinj was called Castrum Rubini and was located on the site where today stands the church of St. Euphemia. This information had inspired us to give the name Castrum to our accommodation.  

ABOUT ROVINJU

Rovinj - the most romantic city in the Mediterranean

Interwoven romantic steep cobbled streets and squares bear witness to the rich history of Rovinj. Walking its streets leads to many attractions such as the Town hall, Town clock, Balbi arch out of the year 1679, Antonio Gandusio theater, St. Euphemiachurch, the Eco-museum "House of Batana" , the Grisia Street in Rovinj where artists exhibit works with a personal approach and talk with visitors, Bregovita street and Švalbina street with Baroque buildings and many other interesting things.

The curiosity of Rovinj is the Rovinj's old dialect - Istriot, which evolved from the popular Latin, mentioned by Dante in his book "De vulgar Eloquentia" in the 13th century. The Rovinj dialect maintain all these centuries in the nomenclature of Rovinj's streets and squares (Grisia, Montalbano, Casale, Trevisol, Piassa Granda Valdibora, etc.).

In addition to cultural attractions, Rovinj offers many natural beauties. In Rovinj Archipelago there are 14 islands of which the most popular are Red Island, also known as St. Andrew and St. Catherine. Approximately 1.5 km south of the city center you can walk or ride a bike to the Park Forest Golden Cape and enjoy the ancient oak and pine trees. Palud marsh, the ornithological reserve, located about 8 km southwest of Rovinj is a bait for bird lovers.

For sports lovers, Rovinj offers a variety of sports activities and numerous sports such as cycling and hiking, tennis, football, rock climbing, diving, angling and spear-fishing, kayaking and sailing. On the contrary, every year in Rovinj are held a number of interesting regattas, the traditional ones are Pesaro - Rovinj - Pesaro, Chioggia - Rovinj - Chioggia, Rovinj Cup and Regatta lug sails - boats with mainsail.
In 2011, for the first time in Rovinj was held the sailing regatta Adris RC44 Cup, which will become traditional. The regatta involved sailors from the world summit.

To conclude, for those of you who yearn a sentimental atmosphere of past times, who still believe in the beauty and peace, but also want to feel the adventure, Rovinj is your city and you will wish to come back.

BATANA

One can not talk about the city, and not to mention its symbol - the boat batana. Batana is a traditional Rovinj wooden barge with flat bottom. The flat bottom was perfect for sailing shallow waters.

The name of batanais associated with the Italian verb battere (hit, beat, beat), which evokes the sound of hammering her flat bottom of the waves. It is completely built of wood - skeleton mostly of oak and paneling of fir or spruce. Galvanized nails or handmade wrought iron are used for riveting. Its golden age batanas were experiencing in the 60s of the 20th century, when they began using an outboard engine 'Tomos'. With the invention of 'Tomos' a batana becomes faster and more flexible than the fishing boats and becomes a favorite craft for fun and recreation.

Rare were the families in Rovinj who did not own a batana. In the summer they used itto go for a swim and in winter they used it for fishing.

There are no completely identical batanas. Being built by hand, it requires a lot of effort, time and attention. The construction batanas always has been given to local boat carpenters which were built in the shipyard or in the store pf the clients home, whose size is also determined the size of the future boat. Batans once sailed with sail and oars. Sometimes the batanas that were larger (about 8 m) were used for transportation and fishing. Today, they are 4-5 meters longand families use them for fishing.

Batana means the history of Rovinj, not only for its purposes, but also for the love of the population. People were poor, they had no other way to make money, they could not survive without the batana. Although the making took a lot of effort, materials and love for the boat, in the end it was worth it. Therefore, the batanais protected as intangible heritage of Rovinj.

Com'è bello qui stamane,
sotto il sole ad ondeggiar,
le finestre e i tetti rossi
si rispecchiano nel mar.
 
Sta viecia batana
cun quatro paiòi
mi piòn chi la vardo,
piòn ben i'ga vuoi!