Lucija (; it, Lucia) is a settlement in the

Municipality of Piran The Municipality of Piran (; sl, Občina Piran, it, Comune di Pirano) is a municipality in the traditional region of the Littoral in southwestern Slovenia. The seat of the municipality is the town of Piran. Piran became a municipality in 1994. ...

in the

Littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

region of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. With a population over 6,000, it is the largest settlement in Slovenia that is not a municipality in its own right.

Name

Lucija was attested in written sources in 1763–87 as ''S. Luzia'', ''S. Lucia'', and ''St. Luzia''. The settlement is named after the local church, now the parish church, which is dedicated to Saint Lucy.Snoj, Marko. 2009. ''Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen''. Ljubljana: Modrijan and Založba ZRC, p. 247. The name of the settlement was changed from ''Sveta Lucija'' (literally, 'Saint Lucy') to ''Lucija'' (literally, 'Lucy') in 1961. The name was changed on the basis of the 1948 Law on Names of Settlements and Designations of Squares, Streets, and Buildings as part of efforts by Slovenia's postwar communist government to remove religious elements from toponyms.

Church

The parish church in Lucija is dedicated to

Saint Lucy Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), also called Saint Lucia ( la, Sancta Lucia) better known as Saint Lucy, was a Roman Christian martyr who died during the Diocletianic Persecution. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ...

. It is a single-nave Baroque structure dating back to the mid-16th century. The main altar was created by the 18th-century Piran stone cutter Gasparo Albertini.

Marina

Southwest of Lucija is the Lucija Marina, owned by the

Marina Portorož A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

company. The first attempts to reuse the abandoned Lucija saltworks began in 1964, when a boathouse was built for sport and recreation activities, although it gained little popularity over the years. In 1970, efforts got underway to establish a new water sports facility ( sl, Dom vodnih športov). In 1973, the Casino gambling company expressed interest in building various tourism and yachting facilities on the saltpans, which were in ruins after years of neglect. Construction of the marina began in 1977; the first phase was finished in 1982 and the second in 1986. The official opening took place in May 1986. The marina is now a popular site, and the international nautical exhibition is held there every year.

References

External links

Lucija on Geopedia
* Populated places in the Municipality of Piran Slovenian Riviera {{Piran-geo-stub