Banfi is a village in northern

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, part of the

Štrigova Štrigova (; outdated German name: ) is a village and municipality in Međimurje County, in northern Croatia. History Oldest archaeological finds in Štrigova municipality are from Roman period. Burial mounds and fragments of pottery were found ...

municipality within Međimurje County. The village is located at the border with

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Name

The village is named after noble family

Bánffy The Banffy family is an ancient Hungarian noble family, whose members occupied prominent positions in the Kingdom of Hungary and later within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Across different branches, the family was elevated to baronial rank in 1729 ...

, in whose possession it was. In Hungarian language village is called ''Bánfihegy'' ("Banffy's hills").

History

At the site of today's Banfi manor, there was an older castle built by a members of noble family

de Alsólendva. Castle was probably built in the 14th century. An

urbarium An urbarium (, English: ''urbarium'', also ''rental'' or ''rent-roll'', , , , ), is a register of fief ownership and includes the rights and benefits that the fief holder has over his serfs and peasants. It is an important economic and legal sourc ...

from year 1672 mentions a cellar (''Baanffy Cellarium'') and vineyards (''Vinea Banffi in monte Strigowsky''). The cellar and vineyards were in possession of

Zrinski The House of Zrinski or Zrínyi was a Croatian- Hungarian noble family, a cadet branch of the Croatian noble tribe of Šubić, influential during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe in the Kingdom of Croatia's union wit ...

noble family. Banfi Manor, most notable building in village, was built in 18th century on the ruins of castle Banffy.

Geography

Banfi is located in part of Međimurje called Gornje Međimurje. Banfi is about 20 kilometres northwest from

Čakovec Čakovec (; ; ; ) is a city in Northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and close to the borders with Slovenia and Hungary. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmo ...

, and some 110 kilometres north of

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. Landscape of Banfi consist of low hills called Međimurske gorice, covered with

vineyard A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

s, orchards and woodlands. There is a border crossing with Slovenia in Banfi. Border crossing is located on road that connects county seat Čakovec with town of

Ljutomer Ljutomer (; ) is a town in northeastern Slovenia, east of Maribor. It is the seat of the Municipality of Ljutomer. Traditionally it was part of the region of Styria. It is now included in the Mura Statistical Region. The economy of Ljutomer is la ...

in Slovenia. Banfi had a population of 262 in 2011 census. Banfi is experiencing

population decline Population decline, also known as depopulation, is a reduction in a human population size. Throughout history, Earth's total world population, human population has estimates of historical world population, continued to grow but projections sugg ...

since the 1960s.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Međimurje County