A part from tennis tournament, in July, you can also enjoy the chamber theatre festival Golden Lion. Lion is Umag’s heraldic symbol. During the Golden Lion days you can assist to many plays performed by renowned Croatian and foreign theatre groups.

In the area of Umag you should try Moreno Coronica’s wine. Moreno Coronica is from Koreniki and he is ranked among the top quality Istrian wine producers.

UMAG – HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Like most other Istrian towns and villages also Umag is a very old town. It is likely that was developed in the 2nd and 3rd century. The oldest names were probably Humagum or Umacus.

In the 7th century the geographer from Ravenna mentioned Umag and in the 12th  century the Arab geographer Edrisi named it as Mugav. In the 17th and 18th century on the maps is named as Humago and Omago.

After the fall of Roman Empire Umag was part of Byzantine Empire and later on was part of the Carolingian kingdom. In 801 Carolingian king gave the jurisdiction of Umag to the church of Grado and this lasted until 1180 when Umag passed under the rule of  the Aquileia Patriarchs.

In a document from 1140 Umag was already named as the town and in 1230 was named Castrum Umagense. In that period Umag was run as a Municipality and in 1145 it has renewed the protection agreement with Venice.

There is a say that in 827 a ship that was transporting the body of St. Mark from Alexandria in Egypt run aground in Umag and that Doge Orso Partecipazio came from Venice to pick up the body.

Someone assume that from this fact originate the special relationship with Venice and the Venetian Republic of St. Mark.

In 1269 the municipality of Umag required from Venice additional protections and accepted the introduction of Venetian Podesta’ that will remain in Umag until the fall of Venice in 1797.

The first Podesta’ of Umag was Marino Bembo and after the war between Venice and the Aquileia Patriarchs in 1283 and peace agreement from 1291 determined that Umag in 1307 will pass definitely under Venice Republic.

In 1356 for the security reasons in Umag was created the second Pasenatico (countryside) Captaincy that in 1359 was transferred to Groznjan.

In 1370 and in 1379 Umag was involved in the wars between Venice and Genoa and Pagainino Doria and later on Pietro Doria occupied Umag for a short period of time.

In the following centuries the major problems for Umag was plague. This horrible disease killed many people in Istria over the centuries and in particular in Umag in 1500, 1629-1631 and in 1638.

In combination with wars plague was the most terrible killer in Istria for many centuries.

With the fall of Venice, Umag became a part of Austrian Empire and for a short period of time was under Napoleon domination. After the first World War and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was part of Italy and after the Second World War became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia).

During the Italian Fascist period in Istria many Istrian families suffered from the regime or had to leave Istria. Fascism in Istria applied various repressive measures mostly towards Slav populations and this created the Antifascist Movement. The Second World War was a very painful experience for the Istrian population and many innocent Istrians, both Slav and Latin, died during that war.

After the second World War Umag became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia). There were three agreements between Yugoslavia and Italy which established that Istria would become a part of Yugoslavia: Paris Agreement of 1947, London Memorandum of 1954 and the Osimo Agreement reached in 1975. In the first decade after the Second World War many Istrians, especially those living in towns and villages that for centuries were part of the Venice Republic, decided to leave Istria.

In 1991 with the fall of Yugoslavia and the founding of the Republic of Croatia, the internal republic boundaries were recognised as the state boundaries and Umag is today part of Croatia.

In 2013 Umag became part of the European Union. You can not change the past but you can try to learn from it. The main aim of the European Union founders was to build a system that could avoid future wars and future refugees in Europe as I explain in COSMOPOLITE.