Rijeka (;
Fiume (
�fjuːme in Italian and in
Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the
third-largest city in
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 ...
. It is located in
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje – Gorski Kotar County (, ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in western Croatia, most of it based in the historical and cultural region called Croatia proper and some of it in Istria, including the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northe ...
on
Kvarner Bay
The Kvarner Gulf (, or ; ; or ) sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal waters.
The largest i ...
, an inlet of the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
and in 2021 had a population of 107,964 inhabitants.
Historically, because of its strategic position and
its excellent deep-water port, the city was fiercely contested, especially between the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
, Venice, Italy and
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
, changing rulers and demographics many times over centuries. According to the
2011 census data, 85% of its citizens are
Croats
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
, along with small numbers of
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
,
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...
and
Italians
Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...
.
Rijeka is the main city and
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The city's economy largely depends on shipbuilding (
shipyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...
s "
3. Maj" and "
Viktor Lenac Shipyard") and maritime transport. Rijeka hosts the
Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc, first built in 1765, as well as the
University of Rijeka
The University of Rijeka () is in the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with faculties in cities throughout the regions of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Primorje, Istria and Lika.
The University of Rijeka is composed of eleven faculties, one art academy ...
, founded in 1973 but with roots dating back to 1632 and the local
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
School of Theology.
Linguistically, apart from
Croatian and Italian, the city is home to its own unique dialect of the
Venetian language
Venetian, also known as wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ), is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in Veneto, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is som ...
,
Fiuman, with an estimated 20,000 speakers among the local Italians, Croats and other minorities. Historically, Fiuman served as the main ''
lingua franca
A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
'' among the many ethnicities inhabiting the multi-ethnic port city. In certain suburbs of the modern extended municipality the autochthonous population still speaks
Chakavian
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmatia, Istria, Croatian L ...
, a dialect of Croatian.
In 2016, Rijeka was selected as the
European Capital of Culture
A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...
for 2020, alongside
Galway
Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
.
Name
Historically, Rijeka was called Tharsatica, Vitopolis (), or Flumen () in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
. The city is called in
Croatian, in
Slovene. In the local dialects of the
Chakavian
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic supradialect or language spoken by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmatia, Istria, Croatian L ...
language it is called or . It is called Fiume () in
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
and in
Fiuman Venetian. All these names mean 'river' in their respective languages.
Meanwhile, in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
the city has been called / (, with the name of
the river being derived from Latin ).
Today, the name Fiume is not used for official purposes for legal reasons. Beginning in 2018 there was an attempt on the initiative of the city's Italian community to install a number of signs, including a
route confirmation sign, featuring both names on the west entrance to the city among other places, but as of 2021 no such signs have been installed thanks to technical difficulties.
Geography
left, 220px, Aerial view of central Rijeka
Rijeka is located in western
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 ...
, south-west of the capital,
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 ...
, on the coast of
Kvarner Gulf
The Kvarner Gulf (, or ; ; or ) sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal waters.
The largest is ...
, in the northern part of the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
. Geographically, Rijeka is roughly equidistant from
Milan
Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
(),
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
(),
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
(),
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
() and
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
(). Other major regional centers such as
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
(),
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
() and
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
() are all relatively close and easily accessible. The Bay of Rijeka, which is bordered by Vela Vrata (between
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
and the island of
Cres
Cres is an Adriatic island in Croatia. It is one of the northern islands in the Kvarner Gulf and can be reached via ferry from Rijeka, Krk island or from the Istrian peninsula (line Brestova-Porozina).
With an area of ,
Cres has the same si ...
), Srednja Vrata (between Cres and
Krk
Krk (; ; ; ; archaic German: ''Vegl'', ; ) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. Krk is tied with Cres as the largest Adriatic island, depending o ...
Island) and Mala Vrata (between Krk and the mainland) is connected to the Kvarner Gulf and is deep enough (about ) to accommodate large commercial ships. The City of Rijeka lies at the mouth of the river
Rječina
The Rječina (; or ), also known as the Fiumara, is a river in Croatia that flows into the Adriatic Sea at the city of Rijeka ().
It is about long, with an average width of . It springs from a cave at an elevation of above sea level, below the ...
and in the
Vinodol micro-region of the Croatian coast. From three sides Rijeka is surrounded by mountains. To the west, the
Učka
The Učka (, ) is a mountain range in western Croatia. It rises behind the Opatija riviera, on the eastern side of the Istrian peninsula.
It forms a single morphological unit together with the Ćićarija range which stretches from the Bay of T ...
range is prominent. To the north/north-east are the
Snežnik plateau and the
Risnjak
Risnjak is a mountain in the Risnjak National Park, in Gorski Kotar, Croatia. It belongs to the Dinaric Alps mountain range.Naklada Naprijed, ''The Croatian Adriatic Tourist Guide'', pg. 84, Zagreb (1999), The name of the massif probably comes ...
massif with its
national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
. To the east/south-east is the
Velika Kapela
The Velika Kapela (; lit. ''Great Chapel'') is a large mountain range in the east of Gorski Kotar, Croatia.
The highest peak is Bjelolasica-Kula at 1533 m.a.s.l. It overlooks Velebit, Plješivica, islands Krk, Cres, Lošinj, and the Kvar ...
range. This type of terrain configuration prevented Rijeka from developing further inland (to the north) and the city mostly lies on a long and relatively narrow strip along the coast. Two important inland transport routes start in Rijeka. The first route runs north-east to the
Pannonian Basin
The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorpholog ...
. This route takes advantage of Rijeka's location close to the point where the
Dinaric Alps
The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern Europe, Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia ...
are the narrowest (about ) and easiest to traverse, making it the optimal route from the
Hungarian plain to the sea. It also makes Rijeka the natural harbour for the Pannonian Basin (especially
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
). The other route runs north-west across the
Postojna Gate
The Postojna Gate, less often the Postojna Gap (), named after the local town of Postojna, is a major mountain pass of the Dinaric Alps. It lies in southwestern Slovenia, between the Hrušica Plateau to the north and the Javornik Hills to the so ...
connecting Rijeka 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 ...
and further through the
Ljubljana Gap with
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and beyond. A third more coastal route runs east-west connecting Rijeka (and, by extension, the
Adriatic
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
coastal cities to the south) with Trieste and northern
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
.
History
Ancient and Medieval times

Though traces of
Neolithic
The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...
settlements can be found in the region, the earliest modern settlements on the site were
Celt
The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...
ic Tharsatica (modern
Trsat
Trsat (, ) is part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with a historic castle or fortress in a strategic location and several historic churches, in one of which the Croatian noble Prince Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried. Trsat is a steep hill, 138 m ...
, now part of Rijeka) on the hill, and the tribe of mariners, the
Liburni
The Liburnians or Liburni () were an ancient tribe inhabiting the district called Liburnia, a coastal region of the northeastern Adriatic between the rivers ''Arsia'' ( Raša) and ''Titius'' ( Krka) in what is now Croatia. According to Strabo ...
, in the natural harbour below. The city long retained its dual character. Rijeka was first mentioned in the 1st century AD by
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...
as Tarsatica in his ''
Natural History
Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
'' (iii.140). Rijeka (Tarsatica) is again mentioned around AD 150 by the Greek geographer and astronomer
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
in his
Geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
when describing the "Location of Illyria or Liburnia, and of Dalmatia" (Fifth Map of Europe). In the time of
Augustus
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...
, the
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
rebuilt Tarsatica as a ''
municipium
In ancient Rome, the Latin term (: ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ('duty holders'), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privileges ...
'' Flumen (MacMullen 2000), situated on the right bank of the small river Rječina (whose name means "the big river"). It became a city within the Roman Province of
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
until the 6th century. In this period the city was part of the
Liburnia
Liburnia () in ancient geography was the land of the Liburnians, a region along the northeastern Adriatic coast in Europe, in modern Croatia, whose borders shifted according to the extent of the Liburnian dominance at a given time between 11th ...
limes (system of walls and fortifications against raiding Barbarians). Remains of these walls are still visible in some places today.

After the 4th century Rijeka was rededicated to
Saint Vitus
Vitus (), whose name is sometimes rendered Guy or Guido, was a Christian martyr from Sicily. His surviving hagiography is pure legend. The dates of his actual life are unknown.Basil Watkins, ''The Book of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical ...
, the city's
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
, as ''Terra Fluminis sancti Sancti Viti'' or in German ''Sankt Veit am Pflaum''. From the 5th century onwards, the town was ruled successively by the
Ostrogoths
The Ostrogoths () were a Roman-era Germanic peoples, Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Goths, Gothic kingdoms within the Western Roman Empire, drawing upon the large Gothic populatio ...
, the
Byzantines, the
Lombards
The Lombards () or Longobards () were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774.
The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written betwee ...
, and the
Avars. The city was burned down in 452 by the troops of
Attila
Attila ( or ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in early 453. He was also the leader of an empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Gepids, among others, in Central Europe, C ...
the Hun as part of their
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, the city is small ( ...
campaign.
Croats
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
settled the city starting in the 7th century giving it the Croatian name, ''Rika svetoga Vida'' ("the river of Saint Vitus"). At the time, Rijeka was a feudal stronghold surrounded by a wall. At the center of the city, its highest point, was a fortress.
In 799 Rijeka was attacked by the
Frankish
Frankish may refer to:
* Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture
** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages, a group of Low Germanic languages also commonly referred to as "Frankish" varieties
* Francia, a post-Roman ...
troops of
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
. Their
Siege of Trsat
The siege of Trsat () was a battle fought over possession of the town of Trsat ()The city of Tarsatica, where the siege happened, was probably located at the present Old Town in Rijeka, not at Trsat itself, which is found on a hill overlooking R ...
was at first repulsed, during which the Frankish commander Duke
Eric of Friuli
Eric (also ''Heirichus'' or ''Ehericus''; died 799) was the Duke of Friuli (''dux Foroiulensis'') from 789 to his death. He was the eldest son of Gerold of Anglachgau and by the marriage of his sister Hildegard the brother-in-law of Charlemagne.
...
was killed. However, the Frankish forces finally occupied and devastated the castle, while the
Duchy of Croatia
The Duchy of Croatia (Modern ; also Duchy of the Croats, Modern ; ; ) was a medieval state that was established by White Croats who migrated into the area of the former Roman province of Dalmatia 7th century AD. Throughout its existence the Duch ...
passed under the overlordship of the
Carolingian Empire
The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...
. From about 925, the town was part of the
Kingdom of Croatia, from 1102
in personal union with Hungary. Trsat Castle and the town were rebuilt under the rule of the
House of Frankopan. In 1288 the Rijeka citizens signed the
Law codex of Vinodol
Law code of Vinodol or Vinodol statute () is one of the oldest law texts written in the Chakavian dialect of Croatian and is among the oldest Slavic codes. Russkaya Pravda is the only older code in Slavdom. It was written in the Glagolitic alphab ...
, one of the oldest codes of law in Europe.
From about 1300 to 1466 Rijeka was ruled by a number of noble families, the most prominent of which was the German
Walsee family. Rijeka even rivalled
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
when in it was sold by Rambert II Walsee to the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
emperor
Frederick III,
Archduke of Austria
Archduke (feminine: Archduchess; German: ''Erzherzog'', feminine form: ''Erzherzogin'') was the title borne from 1358 by the Habsburg rulers of the Archduchy of Austria, and later by all senior members of that dynasty. It denotes a rank within ...
in 1466. It would remain under Austrian Habsburg rule for over 450 years (except for a brief period of French rule between 1809 and 1813) until the end of
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1918 when it was
occupied by Croatian and subsequently by Italian irregulars.
Under Habsburg rule

Austrian presence on the Adriatic Sea was seen as a threat by the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...
and during the
War of the League of Cambrai
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fough ...
the Venetians raided and devastated the city with great loss of life in 1508 and again in 1509. However, the city did recover and remain under Austrian rule. For its fierce resistance to the Venetians it received the title of the "most loyal city" ("fidelissimum oppidium") as well as commercial privileges from the Austrian emperor
Maximilian I in 1515. While
Ottoman forces attacked the town several times, they never occupied it. From the 16th century onwards, Rijeka's present
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
and
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
style started to take shape. Emperor
Charles VI declared the
Port of Rijeka
The Port of Rijeka (, ) is a seaport in Rijeka, Croatia, located on the shore of the Kvarner Gulf in the Adriatic Sea. The first records of the port date to 1281. It was the main port of the Kingdom of Austro-Hungary in the 19th century and the ...
a
free port
A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to ...
(together with the
Port of Trieste
The Free Port of Trieste is a port in the Adriatic Sea in Trieste, Italy. It is the most important commercial port of Italy, with a trade volume of 62 million tonnes.
It is subdivided into five different Free Areas, three of which have be ...
) in 1719 and had the trade route to Vienna expanded in 1725.
On November 28, 1750 Rijeka was hit by a large earthquake. The devastation was so widespread that the city had to be almost completely rebuilt. In 1753, the Austrian Empress
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...
approved the funding for rebuilding Rijeka as a "new city" ("Civitas nova"). The rebuilt Rijeka was significantly different - it was transformed from a small medieval walled town into a larger commercial and maritime city centered around its port.
By order of Maria Theresa in 1779, the city was annexed to the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
and governed as
''corpus separatum'' directly from Budapest by an appointed governor, as Hungary's only international port. From 1804, Rijeka was part of the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
(
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (; or ; ) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was created in 1868 by merging the kingdoms of Kingdom of Croatia (Habs ...
after the
Compromise of 1867
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (, ) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which was a military and diplomatic alliance of two sovereign states. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereign ...
), in the Croatia-Slavonia province.
During the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, Rijeka was briefly captured by the
French Empire and included in the
Illyrian Provinces
The Illyrian Provinces were an autonomous province of France during the First French Empire that existed under Napoleonic Rule from 1809 to 1814. The province encompassed large parts of modern Italy and Croatia, extending their reach further e ...
. During the French rule, between 1809 and 1813, the critically important
Louisiana road was completed (named after
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's wife
Marie Louise
Marie Louise or Marie-Louise is a French feminine given name, compound given name. In other languages, it may take one of several alternate forms:
* Maria Luiza (Bulgarian, Portuguese)
* Maria Luisa (Italian, Spanish)
* Maria Luise (German)
* Mari ...
). The road was the shortest route from Rijeka to the interior (
Karlovac
Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377.
Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...
) and gave a strong impulse to the development of Rijeka's port. In 1813 the French rule came to an end when Rijeka was first bombarded by the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
and later re-captured by the Austrians under the command of the Irish general
Laval Nugent von Westmeath. The British bombardment has an interesting side story. The city was apparently saved from annihilation by a young lady named Karolina Belinić who - amid the chaos and destruction of the bombardment - went to the English fleet commander and convinced him that further bombardment of the city was unnecessary (the small French garrison was quickly defeated and left the city). The legend of Karolina is warmly remembered by the population even today. Karolina Riječka (Caroline of Rijeka) became a folk hero and has been celebrated in plays, movies and even in a rock opera.
In the early 19th century, the most prominent economical and cultural leader of the city was
Andrija Ljudevit Adamić
Andrija Ljudevit Adamić (; 29 November 1766 – 31 October 1828) was a Croatian trader from the City of Fiume (), builder, supporter of economical and cultural development.
Adamich was born into a wealthy Jewish family of Simon Adamić, tobac ...
. Fiume also had a significant naval base, and in the mid-19th century it became the site of the Austro-Hungarian Naval Academy (K.u.K. Marine-Akademie), where the
Austro-Hungarian Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', ) was the navy, naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were designated ''SMS'', for ''Seiner Majestät Schiff'' (His Majes ...
trained its officers.
Hungarian Crown
During the
Hungarian revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...
, when Hungary tried to gain independence from Austria, Rijeka was captured by the Croatian troops (loyal to Austria) commanded by
Ban Josip Jelačić
Count Josip Jelačić von Bužim (16 October 180120 May 1859; also spelled ''Jellachich'', ''Jellačić'' or ''Jellasics''; ; ) was a Croatian lieutenant field marshal in the Imperial Austrian Army and politician. He was the Ban of Croatia betw ...
. The city was then annexed directly to Croatia, although it did keep a degree of autonomy.
Giovanni de Ciotta (mayor from 1872 to 1896) proved to be an authoritative local political leader. Under his leadership, an impressive phase of expansion of the city started, marked by major port development, fuelled by the general expansion of international trade and the city's connection (1873) to the Austro-Hungarian railway network. Modern industrial and commercial enterprises such as the Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Company "
Adria
Adria is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Rovigo in the Veneto region of northern Italy, situated between the mouths of the rivers Adige and Po River, Po. The remains of the Etruria, Etruscan city of Atria or Hatria are to be found below ...
", a rival shipping company the Ungaro-Croata (established in 1891) and the Smith and Meynier paper mill (which operated the first steam engine in south-east Europe), situated in the Rječina canyon, producing cigarette paper sold around the world.
The second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century (up to World War I) was a period of great prosperity, rapid economic growth and technological dynamism for Rijeka. Many authors and witnesses describe Rijeka of this time as a rich, tolerant, well-to-do town which offered a good standard of living, with endless possibilities for making one's fortune. The Pontifical Delegate Celso Costantini noted in his diary "the religious indifference and apathy of the town". The further industrial development of the city included the first industrial scale oil refinery in Europe in 1882 and the first
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
factory in the world in 1866, after
Robert Whitehead, manager of the "
Stabilimento Tecnico Fiumano" (an Austrian engineering company engaged in providing engines for the Austro-Hungarian Navy), designed and successfully tested the world's first torpedo. In addition to the
Whitehead Torpedo Works, which opened in 1874, the oil refinery (1882) and the paper mill, many other industrial and commercial enterprises were established or expanded in these years. These include a rice husking and starch factory (one of the largest in the world), a wood and furniture company, a wheat elevator and mill, the Ganz-Danubius shipbuilding industries, a cocoa and chocolate factory, a brick factory, a tobacco factory (the largest in the Monarchy), a cognac distillery, a pasta factory, the Ossoinack barrel and chest factory, a large tannery, five foundries and many others.
At the beginning of the 20th century more than half of the industrial capacity in Croatia (which was at that time mostly agrarian) was located in Rijeka.
Rijeka's Austro-Hungarian Marine Academy became a pioneering centre for
high-speed photography
High-speed photography is the science of taking pictures of very fast phenomena. In 1948, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) defined high-speed photography as any set of photographs captured by a camera capable of 69 ...
. The Austrian physicist Peter Salcher working in the Academy took the first photograph of a bullet flying at supersonic speed in 1886, devising a technique that was later used by
Ernst Mach
Ernst Waldfried Josef Wenzel Mach ( ; ; 18 February 1838 – 19 February 1916) was an Austrian physicist and philosopher, who contributed to the understanding of the physics of shock waves. The ratio of the speed of a flow or object to that of ...
in his studies of supersonic motion.
Rijeka's port underwent tremendous development fuelled by generous Hungarian investments, becoming the main maritime outlet for Hungary and the eastern part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
. By 1913–14, the port of Fiume became the tenth-busiest port in Europe.
[ The population grew rapidly from only 21,000 in 1880 to 50,000 in 1910. Major civic buildings constructed at this time include the Governor's Palace, designed by the Hungarian architect ]Alajos Hauszmann
Alajos Hauszmann (also called as ''Alois'', June 9, 1847 – July 31, 1926), from 1918 Hauszmann de Velencze, was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian architect, professor, and member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Life
Hauszmann was born ...
. There was an ongoing competition between Rijeka and Trieste, the main maritime outlet for Austria—reflecting the rivalry between the two components of the Dual Monarchy. The Austro-Hungarian Navy sought to keep the balance by ordering new warships from the shipyards of both cities.
During this period the city had an Italian majority. According to the census of 1880, in Rijeka there were 9,076 Italians, 7,991 Croats, 895 Germans and 383 Hungarians. Some historians claim that the city had a Slavic majority at the beginning of the 19th century, because the 1851 census reported a Croatian majority. However, this census is considered not very reliable by Italian historians.
At the last Austro-Hungarian census in 1910, the ''corpus separatum'' had a population of 49,806 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:
By religion, the census of 1910 indicates that - from the total of 49,806 inhabitants - there were 45,130 Catholics
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, 1,696 Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
, 1,123 Calvinist
Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
, 995 Orthodox and 311 Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
. The Jewish population expanded rapidly, particularly in the 1870s-1880s, and built a large synagogue in 1907 (which would be destroyed in 1944, during the German occupation, concurrent with the murder of most of the city's Jewish residents). On the eve of WWI, there were 165 inns, 10 hotels with restaurants, 17 cafés, 17 jewellers, 37 barbers and 265 tailor shops in Rijeka.[
]
World War I
World War I put an end to Rijeka's "golden era" of peace, stability and rapid economic growth. The city would never quite recover to the same level of prosperity. Initially there was a semblance of normalcy (the city was far from the frontlines), however - a growing part of the male population started to be mobilized by the army and the navy. The city's war-related industries continued to work at full steam and contributed significantly to the Austro-Hungarian war effort, especially to the navy. The shipyard Ganz-Danubius
The Ganz Machinery Works Holding is a Hungary, Hungarian holding company. Its products are related to rail transport, power generation, and water supply, among other industries.
The original Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ...
produced a number of warships and submarines like the U-27-class submarines, the Novara-class cruisers, the large battleship SMS Szent István
SMS ''Szent István'' (His Majesty's Ship ''Saint Stephen'') was the last of four dreadnought battleships built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. ''Szent István'' was the only ship of her class to be built within the Hungarian part of the Austro- ...
and others. In total, between the early 1900s and 1918 the city's shipyards produced 1 battleship, 2 cruisers, 20 destroyers, 32 torpedo boats and 15 submarines for the navy. Rijeka was also the main center for the production of torpedoes. However, a lot changed with the war becoming a protracted conflict and especially with the Italian declaration of war on Austria-Hungary in May 1915. This opened a frontline only 90 km from the city and caused a pervasive sense of anxiety among the large Italian population. Several hundred Italians, considered disloyal (enemy non-combatants) by the authorities, were deported to camps in Hungary ( Tápiósüly and Kiskunhalas
Kiskunhalas (; ) is a city in the county of Bács-Kiskun, Hungary.
Railroad
The city is an important railway junction. It crosses the Budapest-Subotica-Belgrade railway line. The Kiskunfélegyháza railway ends in Kiskunhalas.
Geography
Kisk ...
), where many died of malnutrition and diseases. The torpedo factory was attacked by the Italian airship
An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...
"Città di Novara" in 1915 (later shot down by Austrian hydroplanes) and suffered damages. As a consequence - most of the torpedo production was moved to Sankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten (; Central Bavarian: ''St. Pödn''), mostly abbreviated to the official name St. Pölten, is the capital and largest city of the States of Austria, State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria, with 55,538 inhabitants as of 1 Januar ...
in Austria, further away from the frontlines. The city was again attacked by Italian airplanes in 1916 and suffered minor damage. The Naval Academy ceased its activities and was converted to a war hospital (the ex-naval academy buildings are still housing the city hospital to this day). On 10 February 1918 the Italian navy raided the nearby bay of Bakar causing little material damage but achieving a significant propaganda effect. As the war dragged on, the city's economy and the living standard of the population deteriorated rapidly. Due to a maritime blockade, the port traffic suffered a collapse - from 2,892.538 tons in 1913 (before the war) to only 330.313 tons in 1918. Many factories - lacking manpower and/or raw materials - reduced the production or simply closed. Shortages of food and other basic necessities became widespread. Even public safety became a problem with an increase in the number of thefts, violent incidents and war profiteering. The crisis escalated on October 23, 1918, when the Croatian troops stationed in Rijeka (79th regiment) mutinied and temporarily took control of the city.[ Amid growing chaos, the Austro-Hungarian empire dissolved a few weeks later, on November 12, 1918, starting a long period of instability and uncertainty for the city.
]
The "Fiume Question" and the Italian-Yugoslav dispute
Habsburg-ruled Austria-Hungary's disintegration in October 1918 during the closing weeks of World War I led to the establishment of rival Croatian-Serbian and Italian administrations in the city; both Italy and the founders of the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...
(later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) claimed sovereignty based on their "irredentist
Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...
" ("unredeemed") ethnic populations.
After a brief military occupation by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, followed by the unilateral annexation of the former Corpus Separatum by Belgrade, an international force of British, Italian, French and American troops entered the city in November 1918. Its future became a major barrier to agreement during the Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include:
Listed by name
Paris Accords
may refer to:
* Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...
of 1919. The US president Wilson even proposed to make Rijeka a free city and the headquarters of the newly formed League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
.
The main problem arose from the fact that Rijeka was not assigned either to Italy or to Croatia (now Yugoslavia) in the Treaty of London which defined the post-war borders in the area. It remained assigned to Austria-Hungary because - until the very end of WWI - it was assumed that the Austro-Hungarian empire would survive WWI in some form and Rijeka was to become its only seaport (Trieste was to be annexed by Italy). However, once the empire disintegrated, the status of the city became disputed. Italy based its claim on the fact that Italians comprised the largest single nationality within the city (46.9% of the total population). Croats made up most of the remainder and were a majority in the surrounding area.A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor (25 March 1906 – 7 September 1990) was an English historian who specialised in 19th- and 20th-century European diplomacy. Both a journalist and a broadcaster, he became well known to millions through his telev ...
: The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809–1918, University of Chicago Press, Paperback edition, 1976, , page 269 Andrea Ossoinack, who had been the last delegate from Fiume to the Hungarian Parliament, was admitted to the conference as a representative of Fiume, and essentially supported the Italian claims. Nevertheless, at this point the city had had for years a strong and very active Autonomist Party seeking for Rijeka a special independent status among nations as a multicultural Adriatic city. This movement even had its delegate at the Paris peace conference - Ruggero Gotthardi.
Regency of Carnaro
On 10 September 1919, the Treaty of Saint-Germain
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, conventi ...
was signed, declaring the Austro-Hungarian monarchy dissolved. Negotiations over the future of the city were interrupted two days later when a force of Italian nationalist irregulars led by the poet Gabriele D'Annunzio captured the city. Because the Italian government, wishing to respect its international obligations, did not want to annex Fiume, D'Annunzio and the intellectuals at his side eventually established an independent state, the Italian Regency of Carnaro
The Italian Regency of Carnaro () was a self-proclaimed state in the city of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) led by Gabriele d'Annunzio between 1919 and 1920.
During World War I (1914–1918), which the Kingdom of Italy entered on the side of t ...
, a unique social experiment for the age and a revolutionary cultural experience in which various international intellectuals of diverse walks of life took part (like Osbert Sitwell
Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell, 5th Baronet CH CBE (6 December 1892 – 4 May 1969) was an English writer. His elder sister was Edith Sitwell and his younger brother was Sacheverell Sitwell. Like them, he devoted his life to art and l ...
, Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
, Henry Furst, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de ...
, Harukichi Shimoi
was a Japanese poet, translator and writer. Shimoi lived in Italy for many years and was an important promoter of cultural exchange between Japan and Italy.
Shimoi translated works from Yosano Akiko and Matsuo Bashō into Italian, and conver ...
, Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquess of Marconi ( ; ; 25 April 1874 – 20 July 1937) was an Italian electrical engineer, inventor, and politician known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegraphy, wireless tel ...
, Alceste De Ambris
Alceste De Ambris (15 September 1874 – 9 December 1934) was an Italian journalist, socialist activist and syndicalist, considered one of the greatest representatives of revolutionary syndicalism in Italy.
Early life and involvement with soc ...
, Whitney Warren and Léon Kochnitzky).
Among the many political experiments that took place during this experience, D'Annunzio and his men undertook a first attempt to establish a movement of non-aligned nations in the so-called League of Fiume, an organisation antithetic to the Wilsonian League of Nations, which it saw as a means of perpetuating a corrupt and imperialist ''status quo''. The organisation was aiming primarily at helping all oppressed nationalities in their struggle for political dignity and recognition, establishing links with many movements on various continents, but it never found the necessary external support and its main legacy remains today the Regency of Carnaro's recognition of Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
, the first state in the world to have done so.
The Liberal Giovanni Giolitti
Giovanni Giolitti (; 27 October 1842 – 17 July 1928) was an Italian statesman. He was the prime minister of Italy five times between 1892 and 1921. He is the longest-serving democratically elected prime minister in Italian history, and the sec ...
became Premier of Italy again in June 1920; this signalled a hardening of official attitudes to D'Annunzio's ''coup''. On 12 November, Italy and Yugoslavia concluded the Treaty of Rapallo, which envisaged Fiume becoming an independent state, the Free State of Fiume
The Free State of Fiume () was an independent free state that existed from 1920 to 1924. Its territory of comprised the city of Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia) and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to the Kingdo ...
, under a government acceptable to both powers. D'Annunzio's response was characteristically flamboyant and of doubtful judgment: his declaration of war against Italy invited the bombardment by Italian royal forces which led to his surrender of the city at the end of the year, after five days' resistance (known as Bloody Christmas). Italian troops freed the city from D'Annunzio's militias in the last days of December 1920. After a world war and additional two years of economic paralysis the city economy was nearing collapse and the population was exhausted.
Free State of Fiume
In a subsequent democratic election the Fiuman electorate on 24 April 1921 approved the idea of a free state of Fiume-Rijeka with a Fiuman-Italo-Yugoslav consortium ownership structure for the port, giving an overwhelming victory to the independentist candidates of the Autonomist Party. Fiume became consequently a full-fledged member of the League of Nations and the ensuing election of Rijeka's first president, Riccardo Zanella
Riccardo Zanella (27 June 1875 – 30 March 1959) was a Fiuman politician who was the only elected president of the short-lived Free State of Fiume.
Biography
Zanella was born to an Italian father and Slovene mother in Fiume, Austria-Hungar ...
, was met with official recognition and greetings from all major powers and countries worldwide. Despite many positive developments leading to the establishment of the new state's structures, the subsequent formation of a constituent assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
for the state did not put an end to strife within the city. A brief Italian nationalist seizure of power ended with the intervention of an Italian royal commissioner, and another short-lived peace was interrupted by a local Fascist putsch in March 1922 which ended with a third Italian intervention to restore the previous order. Seven months later the Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...
itself fell under Fascist rule and Fiume's fate was therefore sealed, the Italian Fascist Party being among the strongest proponents of the annexation of Fiume to Italy. The Free State of Fiume thus was to officially become the first country victim of fascist expansionism.
The territory of Fiume part of the Kingdom of Italy
The period of diplomatic acrimony was closed by the bilateral Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was signe ...
(27 January 1924), signed by Italy and Yugoslavia. With it the two neighbouring countries agreed to partition the territory of the small state. Most of the old Corpus Separatum territory became part of Italy, while a few Croatian/Slovenian-speaking villages to the north of the city were annexed by Yugoslavia.[Benedetti, Giulio. ''La pace di Fiume'', Bologna, Zanichelli, 1924.] The annexation happened de facto on 16 March 1924, and it inaugurated about twenty years of Italian government for the city proper, to the detriment of the Croatian minority, which fell victim of discrimination and targeted assimilation policies.
The city became the seat of the newly formed Province of Fiume
The Province of Fiume (or Province of Carnaro) was a province of the Kingdom of Italy from 1924 to 1943, then under control of the Italian Social Republic and German Wehrmacht from 1943 to 1945. Its capital was the city of Rijeka, Fiume. It too ...
. In this period Fiume lost its commercial hinterland and thus part of its economic potential as it became a border town with little strategic importance for the Kingdom of Italy. However, since it retained the Free Port status and its iconic image in the nation-building myth, it gained many economic concessions and subsidies from the government in Rome. These included a separate tax treatment from the rest of Italy and a continuous inflow of investments from the Italian state (although not as generous as previous Hungarian ones). The city regained a good level of economic prosperity and was much richer than the surrounding Yugoslav lands, but the economic and demographic growth slowed down if compared to the previous Austro-Hungarian period.
File:Fiume-Stemma (1924-1945).svg, alt=Coat of Arms in use during the italian domain of the city, approved in 1935 2link=https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fiume-Stemma%20(1924-1945).svg, Coat of Arms in use during the italian domain of the city, approved in 1935
, Flag in use during the italian domain of the city
File:Flag of Fiume (1924-1945, Variant).svg, alt=Varinate della Bandiera con lo stemma link=https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag%20of%20Fiume%20(1924-1945,%20Variant).svg, Varinat of the flag with the Coat of Arms
World War II and the German Operational Zone
At the beginning of World War II Rijeka immediately found itself in an awkward position. The city's largest demographic was Italian followed by Croatian constituting most of the remainder, but its immediate surroundings and the city of Sušak, just across the Rječina river (today a part of Rijeka proper) were inhabited almost exclusively by Croatians and part of a potentially hostile power—Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
. Once the Axis powers
The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...
invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, the Croatian areas surrounding the city were occupied by the Italian military, setting the stage for an intense and bloody insurgency which would last until the end of the war. Partisan
Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to:
Military
* Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line
** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII
** Ital ...
activity included guerrilla-style attacks on isolated positions or supply columns, sabotage and killings of civilians believed to be connected to the Italian and (later) German authorities. This, in turn, was met by stiff reprisals from the Italian and German military. On 14 July 1942, in reprisal for the killing of four civilians of Italian origin by Partisans, the Italian military killed 100 men from the suburban village of Podhum, resettling the remaining 800 people to concentration camps.
After the surrender of Italy to the Allies in September 1943, Rijeka and the surrounding territories were occupied and annexed by Germany, becoming part of the Adriatic Littoral Zone. Partisan activity continued and intensified. On 30 April 1944, in the nearby village of Lipa, German troops killed 263 civilians in reprisal for the killing of several soldiers during a Partisan attack.
The German and Italian occupiers and their local collaborators deported some 80 percent of the city's roughly 500 Jews to Auschwitz
Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...
. A larger proportion of Rijeka's Jewish population was murdered in the Holocaust than that of any other city in Italian territory.
Because of its industries (oil refinery, torpedo factory, shipyards) and its port facilities, the city was also a target of more than 30 Anglo-American air attacks, which caused widespread destruction and hundreds of civilian deaths. Some of the heaviest bombardments happened on 12 January 1944 (attack on the refinery, part of the oil campaign), on 3–6 November 1944, when a series of attacks resulted in at least 125 deaths and between 15 and 25 February 1945 (200 dead, 300 wounded).
The area of Rijeka was heavily fortified even before World War II (the remains of these fortifications can be seen today on the outskirts of the city). This was the fortified border between Italy and Yugoslavia which, at that time, cut across the city area and its surroundings. As Yugoslav troops approached the city in April 1945, one of the fiercest and largest battles in this area of Europe ensued. The 27,000 German and additional Italian RSI troops fought tenaciously from behind these fortifications (renamed "Ingridstellung"—Ingrid Line—by the Germans). Under the command of the German general Ludwig Kübler
Ludwig Kübler (2 September 1889 – 18 August 1947) was a German '' General der Gebirgstruppe'' (Lieutenant General) who commanded the 1st Mountain Division, XXXXIX Mountain Corps, 4th Army and the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Li ...
they inflicted thousands of casualties on the attacking Partisans, which were forced by their superiors to charge uphill against well-fortified positions to the north and east of the city. The Yugoslav commanders did not spare casualties to speed up the capture of the city, fearing a possible English landing in area which would prevent their advance towards Trieste before the war was over. After an extremely bloody battle and heavy losses on the attackers side, the Germans were forced to retreat. Before leaving the city the German troops destroyed much of the harbour area and other important infrastructure with explosive charges. However, the German attempt to break out of the encirclement north-west of the city was unsuccessful. Of the approximately 27,000 German and other troops retreating from the city, 11,000 were killed or executed after surrendering, while the remaining 16,000 were taken as prisoners. Yugoslav troops entered Rijeka on 3 May 1945. The city had suffered extensive damage in the war. The economic infrastructure was almost completely destroyed, and of the 5,400 buildings in the city at the time, 2,890 (53%) were either completely destroyed or damaged.
Aftermath of World War II
The city's fate was once again solved by a combination of force and diplomacy, despite insistent pledges by the Fiuman government in exile and its close collaboration with the partisan movement, and despite numerous calls to respect the city-state's internationally recognized sovereignty. During the war years, the Yugoslav communist had promised full independence restoration for Fiume initially, and later an extensive autonomy for the city-state (the locals being promised various degrees of autonomy at different moments during the war, most notably to be granted a federal state of the upcoming Republic of Yugoslavia), in order to ensure the support of the local Autonomists. As the war was coming to an end the city was outright occupied bt Tito's armies, and consequently unilaterally annexed by Yugoslavia, getting fully incorporated into the federal state of Croatia. All the many voices of dissent within the Fiuman population were violently silenced in the 12 months following the end of the war. The de-facto situation created by the Yugoslav forces on the ground was eventually formalized also de-jure in the 1947 Paris peace treaty
The Paris Peace Treaties () were signed on 10 February 1947 following the end of World War II in 1945. The Paris Peace Conference lasted from 29 July until 15 October 1946. The victorious wartime Allied powers (principally the United Kingdom, ...
between Italy and the Allies on the 10th of February 1947, despite public complaints and opposition by the last democratically elected government and its president-in-exile Riccardo Zanella, and all efforts by Italy's experienced foreign minister Carlo Sforza
Count Carlo Sforza (24 January 1872 – 4 September 1952) was an Italian nobility, Italian nobleman, diplomat and Anti-fascism, anti-fascist politician.
Life and career
Sforza was born in Lucca, the second son of Count Giovanni Sforza (184 ...
to finally uphold the implementation of the previous Wilsonian plans for a multicultural Free State solution, hosting a local headquarters for the newly created United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
. Once the change to Yugoslav sovereignty was formalized, and in particular in the years leading to the Trieste Crisis of 1954, 58,000 of the city's 66,000 inhabitants were gradually pushed either to emigrate (they became known in Italian as ''esuli'' or the ''exiled ones'' from Istria, Fiume
Rijeka (;
Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and in 2021 had a po ...
and Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
) or to endure harsh oppression by the new Yugoslav Communist regime. The Yugoslav communist party
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, was the founding and ruling party of SFR Yugoslavia. It was formed in 1919 as the main communist opposition party in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats a ...
opted for a markedly Stalinist
Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...
approach in solving the local ethnic question, in particular after the Autonomist gained massive support in the first post-war local elections held between 1945 and 1946.
The discrimination and persecution that many inhabitants experienced at the hands of Yugoslav officials in the last days of World War II and the first years of peace, still remain painful memories for the locals and the ''esuli,'' and are somewhat of a taboo topic for Rijeka's political milieu, which is still largely denying the events. Summary execution
In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...
s of alleged Fascists (often well-known anti-fascists or openly apolitical), aimed at hitting the local intellectual class, the Autonomists, the commercial classes, the former Italian public servants, the military officials and often also ordinary civilians (at least 650 executions of Italians took place after the end of the war[Società di Studi Fiumani – Roma – Hrvatski Institut za Povijest – Zagreb,''Le vittime di nazionalita italiana a Fiume e dintorni (1943–1947)'',''Žrtve talijanske nacionalnosti u Rijeci i okolici (1939.-1947 .)'', Rome 2002](_blank)
. Tablica ubijenima od 2. svibnja 1945. do 31. prosinca 1947: "Statistički podaci", stranice 206 i 207.) eventually forced most Italophones (of various ethnicities) to leave Rijeka/Fiume in order to avoid becoming victims of a harsher retaliation. The removal was a meticulously planned operation, aimed at convincing the hardly assimilable Italian part of the autochthonous population to leave the country, as testified decades later by representatives of the Yugoslav leadership.
The most notable victims of the political and ethnic repression of locals in this period was the Fiume Autonomists purge hitting all the autonomist figures still living in the city, and now associated in the Liburnian Autonomist Movement. The Autonomists actively helped the Yugoslav partisans in liberating the region from Fascist and Nazi occupation, and, despite receiving various promises of large political autonomy for the city, they were eventually all assassinated by the Yugoslav secret police OZNA
The Department for Protection of the People, commonly known under its Serbo-Croatian acronym as OZNA, was the secret police of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Communist Yugoslavia that existed between 1944 and 1946.
Founding
The OZNA w ...
in the days leading up to the Yugoslav army's victorious march into city and its aftermath.
In subsequent years, the Yugoslav authorities joined the municipalities of Fiume and Sušak and, after 1954, less than one third of the original population of the now united municipalities (mostly what was previously the Croat minority in Fiume and the majority in Sušak) remained in the city, because the old municipality of Fiume lost in these years more than 85% of the original population. The Yugoslav plans for a more obedient demographic situation in Rijeka culminated in 1954 during the Trieste crisis, when the Yugoslav Communist Party rallied many local members to ruin or destroy the most notable vestiges of the Italian/Venetian language and all bilingual inscriptions in the city (which had been legally granted a fully bilingual status after the occupation in 1945), eventually also 'de facto' (but not 'de jure') deleting bilinguilism, except in a handful of selected bilingual schools and inside the Italian Community's own building. After the war the local ethnic Italians of Rijeka left Yugoslavia for Italy ( Istrian-Dalmatian exodus).
The city was then resettled by immigrants from various parts of Yugoslavia, once more changing heavily the city's demographics and its linguistic composition. These years coincided also with a period of general reconstruction and new program of industrialization after the destruction of the war. During the period of the Yugoslav Communist administration between the 1950s and the 1980s, the city became the main port of the Federal Republic
A federal republic is a federation of Federated state, states with a republican form of government. At its core, the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a form of government means a country that is governed by elected re ...
and started to grow once again, both demographically and economically, taking advantage of the newly re-established hinterland that had been lacking during the Italian period, as well as the rebuilding after the war of its traditional manufacturing industries, its maritime economy and its port potential. This, paired with its rich commercial history, allowed the city to soon become the second richest (GDP per capita) district within Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
. However, many of these industries and companies, being based on a socialist planned economic model were not able to survive the move to a market-oriented economy in the early 1990s.
As Yugoslavia broke up in 1991, the former Federal State of Croatia became independent and, in the Croatian War of Independence
The Croatian War of Independence) and (rarely) "War in Krajina" ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Рат у Крајини, Rat u Krajini) are used. was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croats, Croat forces loyal to the Governmen ...
that ensued, Rijeka became part of the newly independent 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 ...
. Since then, the city has stagnated economically and its demography has plunged. Some of its largest industries and employers have gone out of business, the most prominent among them being the Jugolinija shipping company, the torpedo factory, the paper mill and many other small or medium manufacturing and commercial companies. Other companies have struggled to remain economically viable (like the city's landmark 3. Maj shipyard). The number of people working in manufacturing dropped from more than 80,000 in 1990 to only 5,000 two decades later. Privatization scandals and the large scale corruption which marked Croatia's transition from socialism to capitalism as well as several years of war economy
A war economy or wartime economy is the set of preparations undertaken by a modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to su ...
played a significant role in the collapse of the city's economy during the 1990s and early 2000s. A difficult and uncertain transition of the city's economy away from manufacturing and towards an economy based on services and tourism is still in progress.
On 27 November 2019, a waterspout
A waterspout is a rotating column of air that occurs over a body of water, usually appearing as a funnel-shaped cloud in contact with the water and a cumuliform cloud. There are two types of waterspout, each formed by distinct mechanisms. ...
of intensity IF1 made landfall
Landfall is the event of a storm moving over land after being over water. More broadly, and in relation to human travel, it refers to 'the first land that is reached or seen at the end of a journey across the sea or through the air, or the fact ...
in the city of Rijeka, causing tree, roof and car damage along a narrow path.
In 2020, Rijeka was voted the European Capital of Culture
A European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union (EU) for a period of one calendar year during which it organises a series of cultural events with a strong pan-European dimension. Being a European Capital of Culture can ...
alongside Galway
Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...
, with a planned program including more than 600 events of cultural and social importance.
Rijeka's International Carnival
The Rijeka Carnival (Croatian: ''Riječki karneval'') is held each year before Lent (between late January and early March) in Rijeka, Croatia. Established in 1982, it has become the biggest carnival in Croatia. Every year there are numerous events preceding the carnival itself. First the mayor of Rijeka gives the symbolic key of the city to Meštar Toni, who is "the maestro" of the carnival, and he becomes the mayor of the city during the carnival, although this is only figuratively. On the same day, the carnival queen is elected. As all the cities around Rijeka have their own events during the carnival time, Queen and Meštar Toni are attending most of them.
Also, every year the Carnival charity ball is held in the Governor's palace in Rijeka. It is attended by politicians, people from sport and media life, as well as a number of ambassadors.
The weekend before the main event there are two other events held. One is Rally Paris–Bakar (after the Dakar Rally
The Dakar Rally () or simply "The Dakar" (), formerly known as the Paris–Dakar Rally (), is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). It is an off-road endurance event traversing terrain much tougher than convent ...
). The start is a part of Rijeka called Paris after the restaurant located there, and the end is in city of Bakar, located about south-east. All of the participants of the rally wear masks, and the cars are mostly modified old cars. The other event is the children's carnival, held, like the main one, on Rijeka's main walkway Korzo. The groups that participate are mostly from kindergartens and elementary schools, including groups from other parts of Croatia and neighboring countries. In 1982 there were only three masked groups on Rijeka's main walkway Korzo. In recent years, the international carnival has attracted around 15,000 participants from all over the world organized in over 200 carnival groups, with crowds of over 100,000.
Climate
Rijeka has a humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
(Cfa by the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
) with warm summers and relatively mild and rainy winters. The terrain configuration, with mountains rising steeply just a few kilometres inland from the shores of the Adriatic, provides for some striking climatic and landscape contrasts within a small geographic area. Beaches can be enjoyed throughout summer in a typically Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
setting along the coastal areas of the city to the east (Pećine, Kostrena
Kostrena () is a Croatian municipality east of Rijeka on the Kvarner Bay. It is famous for its beaches and a long tradition of seafaring and seamanship. Because of its rocky beaches and a walkway that goes along the shoreline, it is very popular ...
) and west (Kantrida, Preluk). At the same time, the ski resort of Platak, located only about from the city, offers alpine skiing
Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...
and abundant snow during winter months (at times until early May). The Kvarner Bay
The Kvarner Gulf (, or ; ; or ) sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal waters.
The largest i ...
and its islands are visible from the ski slopes.
Unlike typical mediterranean locations, Rijeka does generally not see a summer drought. Snow is rare (usually three days per year, almost always occurring in patches). There are 20 days a year with a maximum of or higher, while on one day a year the temperature does not exceed .[ Fog appears in about four days per year, mainly in winter.][ The climate is also characterized by frequent rainfall. Cold ( bora) winds are common in wintertime.
Since records began in 1948, the highest temperature recorded at the local weather station at an elevation of was , on 19 July 2007. The coldest temperature was , on 10 February 1956.
]
Demographics
According to the 2021 census, the city proper had a population of 107,964, which included:
Other groups, including Slovenes
The Slovenes, also known as Slovenians ( ), are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Slovenia and adjacent regions in Italy, Austria and Hungary. Slovenes share a common ancestry, Slovenian culture, culture, and History of Slove ...
and Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...
, formed less than 1% each. The Croatian census recognized two settlements within the City of Rijeka - the city itself with a population of 128,384, and "Bakar Bakar may refer to:
*Bakar, Croatia
Bakar is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of th ...
" with a population of 240, which is the village of Sveti Kuzam, separate from the neighboring town of Bakar Bakar may refer to:
*Bakar, Croatia
Bakar is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of th ...
. On 27 February 2014, Rijeka city council passed a decision to annex the settlement (named "Bakar-dio (Sv. Kuzam")) to the settlement of Rijeka.
There are 34 units of local administration called in Rijeka:
* Banderovo
* Belveder
* Brajda-Dolac
* Brašćine-Pulac
* Bulevard
* Centar-Sušak
* Draga
* Drenova
* Gornja Vežica
* Gornji Zamet
* Grad Trsat
* Grbci
* Kantrida
* Kozala
* Krimeja
* Luka
* Mlaka
* Orehovica
* Pašac
* Pećine
* Pehlin
* Podmurvice
* Podvežica
* Potok
* Srdoči
* Sveti Kuzam
Sveti Kuzam is a village located between Bakar, Croatia, Bakar and Rijeka in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia. The village is administered as a part of the City of Rijeka.
The village was recorded on the 2011 Croatian census as a settlement n ...
* Sveti Nikola
* Svilno
* Školjić-Stari grad
* Škurinje
Rijeka (;
Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...
* Škurinjska Draga
* Turnić Turnić may refer to:
* Turnić, Požega-Slavonia County, a village near Požega, Croatia
* Turnić, Rijeka, a section of Rijeka
Rijeka (;
Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and th ...
* Vojak
* Zamet
In 1911 the linguistic division of the city of Rijeka (excluding Sušak) was:
The number of Italians in Rijeka decreased drastically following the Istrian-Dalmatian exodus, which occurred from 1943 to 1960.
Boundaries of Rijeka are sometimes extended into the adjoining areas. The former municipality of Rijeka (20th century) consists of other towns and municipalities outside Rijeka city proper, which used to be part of an official union of adjacent settlements (disbanded in 1995). It includes towns and municipalities of Kastav
Kastav is a town in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, western part of Croatia, built on a 365 m high hill overlooking the Kvarner Gulf on the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic. It is in close vicinity of Rijeka, the largest port in Croatia ...
, Viškovo
Viškovo is a village and a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia.
Population
In the 2011 census, there were a total of 14,445 inhabitants, in the following naselja, settlements:
* Kosi, Croatia, Kosi, population 80 ...
, Klana, Kostrena
Kostrena () is a Croatian municipality east of Rijeka on the Kvarner Bay. It is famous for its beaches and a long tradition of seafaring and seamanship. Because of its rocky beaches and a walkway that goes along the shoreline, it is very popular ...
, Čavle
Čavle is a village and a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia.
History
A 22 December 1939 decision as part of agrarian reforms by Ban of Croatia, Ban Ivan Šubašić, Šubašić to confiscate the forest property in ...
, Jelenje
Jelenje is a village and municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. As of 2021, the municipality had a population of 5,096 with 94.6% Croats. The village itself had an urban population of 395.
History
After the Lujzijan ...
, Bakar Bakar may refer to:
*Bakar, Croatia
Bakar is a town in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The population of the town was 8,279 according to the 2011 Croatian census, including 1,473 in the titular settlement. Ninety percent of th ...
and Kraljevica
Kraljevica (known as ''Porto Re'' in Italian and literally translated as "King's cove" in English) is a town in the Kvarner region of western Croatia, located between Rijeka and Crikvenica, approximately thirty kilometers from Opatija and near ...
.
The urban agglomeration
An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...
of Rijeka includes the former municipality along with the towns and municipalities of Opatija
Opatija (; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in northwestern Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic bu ...
, Lovran
Lovran (, ) is a village and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia. It is situated in eastern Istria, on the western coast of the Kvarner Bay. Its name derives from Laurel (''Laurus nobilis''), as shown in the coat of arms.
Popul ...
, Mošćenička Draga
Mošćenička Draga () is municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia. It is situated southwest of Opatija under Mt. Učka. The settlement of Mošćenička Draga developed as a fishing port of the town of Mošćenice, and was first ment ...
and Matulji
Matulji is a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, northwestern Croatia. It is located west of the city of Rijeka, north of the town of Opatija, and it borders Slovenia. Matulji is first mentioned in written History, historical sources in ...
.
The metro area
Metro Area is a Brooklyn-based house and nu-disco duo formed in 1998 by Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani.
History
Geist grew up in Wayne, New Jersey, Spring Arts Clubs: Electro-Shock by Tricia Romano">village voice > nyclife > Spring Arts ...
of Rijeka is the territory of consolidated expansion. It includes towns and municipalities of Crikvenica
Crikvenica () is a town in west Croatia, located on the Adriatic in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
Names
The names of the town in various languages include:
*
*
*
*
Geography
Crikvenica is located southeast of Rijeka and is the largest s ...
, Novi Vinodolski
Novi Vinodolski (, often also called Novi or ''Novi del Vinodol'' o ''Novi in Valdivino'' in Italian) is a town on the Adriatic Sea coast in Croatia, located south of Crikvenica, Selce and Bribir and north of Senj. The population of Novi is 3,9 ...
, Vinodolska, Lokve, Fužine, Delnice
Delnice () is a town in western Croatia, the largest settlement in the mountainous region of Gorski Kotar, in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The town has a population of 3861, and total municipality population is 5135 (2021). Delnice is Gorsk ...
and Omišalj
Omišalj is a coastal municipality in the north-west of the island of Krk in Croatia. The population of Omišalj itself is 1,887 (2021), while the municipality also includes the nearby village of Njivice, bringing the total population to 2,992. Om ...
, which all gravitate towards the City of Rijeka.
The following tables list the city's population, along with the population of ex-municipality (disbanded in 1995), the urban and the metropolitan area.
Main sights
*Tvornica "Torpedo" (the Torpedo factory). The first European prototypes of a self-propelled torpedo, created by Giovanni Luppis
Giovanni (Ivan) Biagio Luppis Freiherr von Rammer (27 August 1813 – 11 January 1875), sometimes also known by the Croatian name of Vukić, was an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Navy who headed a commission to develop the first prototypes o ...
, a retired naval engineer from Rijeka. The remains of this factory still exist, including a well-preserved launch ramp used for testing self-propelled torpedoes on which in 1866 the first torpedo was tested.
*The Croatian National Theatre building. Officially opened in October 1885, the grand theatre building includes work by the famous Venetian sculptor August Benvenuti and ceiling artist Franz Matsch, who collaborated with Ernst
Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include:
Surname
* Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst"
* Anton Ernst (born ...
and Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt (14 July 1862 – 6 February 1918) was an Austrian symbolist painter and a founding member of the Vienna Secession movement. His work helped define the Art Nouveau style in Europe. Klimt is known for his paintings, murals, sket ...
.
*''Svetište Majke Božje Trsatske'' – the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Trsat. Built above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...
on the Trsat hill during the late Middle Ages, it represents the Guardian of Travellers, especially seamen, who bring offerings to her so she will guard them or help them in time of trouble or illness. It is home to the Gothic sculpture of the Madonna of Slunj and to works by the Baroque painter C. Tasce.
*Trsat Castle
Trsat Castle () is a castle in Trsat, Croatia. It is thought that the castle lies at the exact spot of an ancient Illyrian and Roman fortress. The Croatian noble Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried in one of the churches. The Trsat castle was complete ...
, a 13th-century fortress, which offers magnificent vistas from its bastions and ramparts, looking down the Rječina
The Rječina (; or ), also known as the Fiumara, is a river in Croatia that flows into the Adriatic Sea at the city of Rijeka ().
It is about long, with an average width of . It springs from a cave at an elevation of above sea level, below the ...
river valley to the docks and the Kvarner Gulf
The Kvarner Gulf (, or ; ; or ) sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal waters.
The largest is ...
.
*Petar Kružić staircase
Petar Kružić stairway, or Petar Kružić staircase, or Trsat stairway () is the stone stairway in Rijeka, Croatia, that leads from Rijeka to Trsat.
The stairway starts from the archway at the Eastern Bank of Rječina river in Rijeka, and lead ...
(or Trsat stairway), which links downtown Rijeka to Trsat
Trsat (, ) is part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with a historic castle or fortress in a strategic location and several historic churches, in one of which the Croatian noble Prince Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried. Trsat is a steep hill, 138 m ...
. The stairway consists of 561 stone steps and was built for the pilgrims as the way to reach the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Trsat.
*Old gate or Roman arch. At first it was thought that this was a Roman Triumphal Arch built by the Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus
Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus" (10 May 214 – August/September 270), also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Batt ...
but later it was discovered to be just a portal to the '' pretorium'', the army command in late antiquity.
*Rijeka Cathedral
The St. Vitus Cathedral (, Italian: ''Cattedrale di San Vito'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Rijeka, Croatia.
In the Middle Ages, the Church of St. Vitus was a small and one-sided, Romanesque church dedicated to the patron saint and prote ...
, dedicated to St. Vitus.
*Palace Modello
Palace Modello (; ) was built in 1885 in Rijeka, Croatia, on the place of the destroyed and demolished Adamichev () theater. TURISTIČKA MAGISTRALA >> PALAČA "MODELLO"">Službene stranice Grada Rijeke Rijeka >> TURISTIČKA MAGISTRALA >> PALA� ...
designed by Buro Fellner & Helmer
Fellner & Helmer was an architecture studio founded in 1873 by Austrian architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. They designed over 200 buildings (mainly opera houses and apartment buildings) across Europe in the late 19th and early 20th c ...
and built in 1885.
*Stadion Kantrida
Kantrida Stadium () is a football stadium in the Croatian city of Rijeka. It is named after the Kantrida neighbourhood in which it is located, in the western part of the city. It has served as the home of the HNK Rijeka football club for most yea ...
, was included on CNN's list of the world's most iconic and unusual football stadiums in 2011.
*Art installation "Masters", a site-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork. Site-specific art is produced both by commercial artists, and independently, and can ...
installation by Czech artist Pavel Mrkus was permanently placed beneath the high ceiling vault on the inner balconies of Rijeka's fish market. The installation consists of a video segment - a projection of Mrkus's video recorded on the DIMI fishing trawler while fishing in the Kvarnerić waters – and it is accompanied by an audio segment of the sounds of the sea and a fishing boat that can only be heard in the fish market gallery. It is a story that pays homage to those who are never seen here, but without whom there would be no fish on the tables.
*Art installation "Balthazartown Beach", a site-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork. Site-specific art is produced both by commercial artists, and independently, and can ...
installation found its place on the Grčevo beach, more commonly known as Pajol or Šestica, located at the very end of Pećine near the Viktor Lenac Shipyard. Under the mentorship of artist Igor Eškinja, students of the Academy of Applied Arts of the University of Rijeka
The University of Rijeka () is in the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with faculties in cities throughout the regions of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Primorje, Istria and Lika.
The University of Rijeka is composed of eleven faculties, one art academy ...
designed a steel sculpture that changes the observer's experience of the environment and they created 15 inscriptions on a concrete plateau that encourage everyone to play and are visible only when in contact with water. The artistic process is inspired by the theme of Professor Balthazar
''Professor Balthazar'' () is a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav animation, animated television series for children about an old inventor that was produced between 1967 and 1978. It was created by animator Zlatko Grgić.
The series revolves around benevolen ...
, the world-famous and award-winning animated series, in which the scenographer used Rijeka as the primary inspiration in the creation of Balthazartown Beach.
Transport
The Port of Rijeka is the largest port in Croatia, with a cargo throughput in 2017 of 12.6 million tonnes, mostly crude oil and refined petroleum products, general cargo and bulk cargo
Bulk cargo is Product (business), product cargo that is transported packaging, unpackaged in large quantities.
Description
Bulk cargo refers to material in either liquid or granular, particulate (as a mass of relatively small solids) form, ...
, and 260,337 twenty-foot equivalent unit
The twenty-foot equivalent unit (abbreviated TEU or teu) is a general unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports.Rowlett, 2004. It is based on the volume of a intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box tha ...
s (TEUs). The port is managed by the Port of Rijeka Authority. The first record of a port in Rijeka date back to 1281, and in 1719, the Port of Rijeka was granted a charter as a free port. There are ferry connections between Rijeka and the surrounding islands and cities, but no direct international passenger ship connections. There are coastal lines to Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enter ...
and onward to Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...
, which operate twice weekly and have international connections.
The city is difficult to get to by air outside of the tourist season. The city's own international airport, Rijeka Airport is located on the nearby island of Krk across the Krk Bridge
Krk Bridge () is a long reinforced concrete arch bridge connecting the Croatian island of Krk to the mainland. Carrying over a million vehicles per year, it was the last tolled bridge in Croatia that was not part of a motorway until the removal ...
. Buses, with a journey time of approximately 45 minutes, operate from Rijeka city center and nearby Opatija
Opatija (; ; ) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in northwestern Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean climate and its historic bu ...
, with a schedule based on the planned arrival and departure times of flights. Handling 200,841 passengers in 2019, the facility is more of a charter airport than a serious transport hub
A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between mode of transport, transport modes. Public transport hubs include train station, railway stations, metro station, rapid transit stations, bus ...
, although various scheduled airlines have begun to service it with a comparatively large number of flights coming from airports in Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Most of these flights only operate during the tourist season between approximately May and October. Alternative nearby airports include Pula
Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...
(around 90 minutes drive from Rijeka), Trieste
Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
(around 90 minutes), Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
(around 2 hours), 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 ...
(around 2 hours) and Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
(around 3 hours).
Rijeka has efficient road connections to other parts of Croatia and neighbouring countries. The A6 motorway connects Rijeka to Zagreb via the A1, while the A7 motorway, completed in 2004, links Rijeka with Ljubljana, Slovenia, via Ilirska Bistrica
Ilirska Bistrica (; ; , before 1927: ''Bisterza,'' Hungarian: ''Illírbeszterce'') is a town in the Inner Carniola region of southwestern Slovenia. It is the administrative seat of the Municipality of Ilirska Bistrica.
Name
The name ''Ilirska ...
and with Trieste, Italy. The A7 acts as the Rijeka bypass motorway and facilitates access to the A8 motorway of the Istrian Y network starting with the Učka Tunnel
The Učka Tunnel () is a toll tunnel on the A8 motorway in Croatia, under the Učka mountain range, as part of the Istrian Y network in Istria owned and operated by BINA Istra (owning the highway in a concession from 1995 to 2041).
The tunnel ...
, and linking Rijeka with Istria. As of August 2011, the bypass is being extended eastwards to the Krk Bridge area and new feeder roads are under construction.
Rijeka is integrated into the Croatian railway network and international rail lines. A fully electrified railway connects Rijeka to Zagreb and beyond towards Koprivnica
Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of Koprivnica-Križevci County. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total populati ...
and the Hungarian border as part of Pan-European corridor Vb. Rijeka is also connected to Trieste and Ljubljana by a separate electrified line that extends northwards from the city. Rijeka has direct connections by daily/night trains to Prague, München, Salzburg, Ljubljana, Bratislava and Brno. Construction of a new high performance railway between Rijeka and Zagreb, extending to Budapest is planned, as well as rail links connecting Rijeka to the island of Krk and between Rijeka and Pula
Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...
.
Bus connections
Rijeka Bus Station is connected by regular bus lines with all major Croatian cities such as Zagreb, Osijek, Slavonski Brod, Đakovo, Nova Gradiška, Požega, Vukovar, Gospić, Karlovac, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Makarska and Dubrovnik. Departures are frequent in the direction of Istria, the islands of Cres, Lošinj, Krk, Rab and Pag and the towns around Crikvenica, Novi Vinodolski and Senj. From international lines, there are regular departures in the direction of Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
KD Autotrolej d.o.o. is a carrier of passengers in the area of the City of Rijeka and cities / towns in the suburbs (the so-called Rijeka ring).
Sports
The history of Rijeka's organised sports started between 1885 and 1888 with the foundation of the Club Alpino Fiumano in 1885, the Young American Cycle Club in 1887 (the first club of this American league to be founded in a foreign land), and the Nautico Sport Club Quarnero in 1888 by the Hungarian minority of the city. Even earlier, in 1873, following the initiative by Robert Whitehead, the first football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
match to be disputed in today's Republic of Croatia territory was played in Rijeka: the Hungarian Railways team and the English engineers-led team of the Stabilimento Tecnico di Fiume (later Torpedo Factory of Fiume). The first football club in Fiume was founded under the name of Fiumei Atletikai Club.
Today, HNK Rijeka
Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka.
HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Croatian First Football League, Supersport HNL, o ...
is the city's main football team, which competes in the Croatian Football League
The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establish ...
. They were the champions of Croatia in 2016–17. Until July 2015, HNK Rijeka was based at the iconic Stadion Kantrida
Kantrida Stadium () is a football stadium in the Croatian city of Rijeka. It is named after the Kantrida neighbourhood in which it is located, in the western part of the city. It has served as the home of the HNK Rijeka football club for most yea ...
. With Kantrida awaiting reconstruction, they are based at the newly built Stadion Rujevica
Stadion Rujevica (), officially known as Stadion HNK Rijeka (), is a stadium in the city of Rijeka, Croatia. The stadium is commonly referred to as Rujevica after its location. From August 2015, the stadium is a temporary home ground for HNK Rijek ...
, their temporary home in the club's new training camp. Additionally, HNK Orijent
HNK Orijent is a Association football, football club from Sušak, Rijeka, Sušak, the eastern part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia. The club was established under the name ''Orient'' in 1919. They currently compete in the First Football League (C ...
is based in Sušak and plays in the First Football League (second tier).
Rijeka's other notable sports clubs include RK Zamet
RK Zamet (Rukometni Klub Zamet) is a handball club from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 1957. The club currently competes in the Croatian Premier Handball League and the Croatian Handball Cup. Although the club has not won any mayor trophies, it ha ...
and ŽRK Zamet
ŽRK Zamet (Ženski rukometni Klub Zamet) is a women's handball club from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 1957. The club currently competes in the Croatian First League (women's handball), Croatian First League and the Croatian First League (women's h ...
(handball
Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...
), VK Primorje EB (water polo
Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
), KK Kvarner
KK Kvarner was a professional basketball club based in Rijeka, Croatia.
History
KK Kvarner was founded in 1946 in Rijeka and in its history has changed several names for sponsored reasons like KK Istravino, KK Croatia Line Rijeka, KK Sava Osigura ...
(basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
) and ŽOK Rijeka
ŽOK Rijeka is a Croatian women's volleyball club based in Rijeka. It was established in 1947. It plays in the Croatian 1A Volleyball League, and in recent years it has competed in the Women's CEV Champions League. They have won seven straight ...
(women's volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
).
Between 1969 and 1990, Rijeka hosted the Yugoslav motorcycle Grand Prix that was part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...
. Rijeka also hosted the 2008 European Short Course Swimming Championships. In over 80 years, LEN had never seen so many records as the number set at ''Bazeni Kantrida'' (Kantrida Swimming Complex). A total of 14 European records were set, of which 10 were world records, and even 7 were world-best times. This championship also presented a record in the number of participating countries. There were more than 600 top athletes from some 50 European countries. Swimmers from 21 nations won medals, and 40 of the 51 national member Federations of LEN were present in Rijeka.
International relations
Twin towns – sister cities
Rijeka is twinned with:
Gallery
Panoramas
Notable people
Scientists, professors and inventors
* Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria
Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria (, ; 2 March 1833 – 13 June 1905) was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He was the second son of Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary (seventh son of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor) and Duchess ...
, Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
, Romani language
Romani ( ; also Romanes , Romany, Roma; ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani people. The largest of these are Vlax Romani language, Vlax Romani (about 500,000 speakers), Balkan Romani (600,000), and Sinte Roma ...
philologist and Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin
** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities
** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom
* Romanians (Romanian ...
ethnographer, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
* Robert Bartini, Fiuman-Soviet aircraft designer and scientist, creator of the Bartini A-57
The Bartini A-57 was an experimental Soviet bomber and seaplane from the mid-1950s that was designed by Robert Ludvigovich Bartini. The aircraft was never put into production.
The A-57 was equipped with a lift jet (similar to VTOL aircraft today ...
and Bartini Beriev VVA-14
The Bartini Beriev VVA-14 ''Vertikaľno-Vzletayushchaya Amfibiya'' ( vertical take-off amphibious aircraft) was a wing-in-ground-effect aircraft developed in the Soviet Union during the early 1970s. Designed to be able to take off from the wa ...
* Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi ( , , ; 29 September 1934 – 20 October 2021) was a Hungarian-American psychologist. He recognized and named the psychological concept of " flow", a highly focused mental state conducive to productivity. He w ...
, Fiuman-Hungarian Psychology Professor at Claremont Graduate University
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...
, known as the architect of the notion of flow
* Umberto D'Ancona, Fiuman-Italian Biology Professor and founder of the Hydro-biological Station in Chioggia
Chioggia (; , ; ) is a coastal town and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Venice in the Veneto region of northern Italy.
Geography
The town is located on a small island at the southern entrance to the Venetian Lagoon about sou ...
* Aladár Fest, Fiuman-Hungarian pioneer pedagogue, historian that wrote his works in Hungarian, German and Italian.
* Antonio Grossich
Antonio Grossich (7 June 1849 – 1 October 1926) was an Italian surgeon from Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia), a politician, and a writer.
Born in Draguć (Draguccio d'Istria), halfway between Buzet (Pinguente) and Pazin (Pisino), Istria, Grossich ...
, Fiuman-Italian doctor, professor of surgery and inventor of the Tincture of iodine
Tincture of iodine, iodine tincture, or weak iodine solution is an antiseptic. It is usually 2% elemental iodine, along with potassium iodide or sodium iodide, dissolved in a mixture of ethanol and water. Tincture solutions are characterized by ...
, senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...
and irredentist
Irredentism () is one state's desire to annex the territory of another state. This desire can be motivated by ethnic reasons because the population of the territory is ethnically similar to or the same as the population of the parent state. Hist ...
politician
* William Klinger, historian of Fiuman, Croatian and Yugoslav history
* Giovanni Kobler Giovanni may refer to:
* Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname
* Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data
* ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...
, Fiuman historian whose work is considered the major milestone in the Rijeka historiography
* Giovanni Luppis
Giovanni (Ivan) Biagio Luppis Freiherr von Rammer (27 August 1813 – 11 January 1875), sometimes also known by the Croatian name of Vukić, was an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Navy who headed a commission to develop the first prototypes o ...
, Fiuman officer of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, lead inventor of the first self-propelled torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
* Paul Neményi
Paul Felix Neményi (June 5, 1895March 1, 1952) was a Hungarian mathematician and physicist who specialized in continuum mechanics. He was known for using what he called the inverse or semi-inverse approach, which applied vector field analysis, ...
, Fiuman-Hungarian mathematician and physicist, and the probable father of former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer
Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Chess Champi ...
* Sándor Alexander Riegler, Hungarian professor of chemistry and physics
* Peter Salcher
Peter Salcher (Kreuzen, 10 August 1848 — Sušak, Rijeka, Sušak, today part of Rijeka, 4 October 1928) was an Austrians, Austrian and Croats, Croatian physicist.
Biography
He studied physics at the University of Graz, where he received his Doct ...
, Fiuman-Austrian physicist of the Fiume Academy, pioneer of ultrafast photography and aerodynamic studies
* Petar Strčić Petar (, sr-Cyrl, Петар) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter.
Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra.
People mo ...
, Croatian historian
* Danilo Klen, Croatian historian whose main focus of work were Rijeka and Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
Arts and culture
* Oretta Fiume, Fiuman-Italian cinema star of the 1930s and 1940s, with her final role in Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
's La Dolce Vita
''La Dolce Vita'' (; Italian for 'the sweet life' or 'the good life'Kezich, 203) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Federico Fellini and written by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, and Brunello Rondi. The film stars M ...
* Irma Gramatica
Irma Gramatica (born Maria Francesca Gramatica; 25 November 1870 – 24 October 1962) was an Italian stage and film actress. Gramatica appeared in ten films during her career including '' The Materassi Sisters'' (1944).Landy p.285 Her sisters An ...
, Fiuman-Italian stage and film actress
* Janko Polić Kamov, Croatian writer and poet from Sušak
* Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić, Catholic nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...
, founder of the order of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...
of Jesus
* Aldo Lado
Aldo Lado (5 December 1934 – 25 November 2023) was an Italian film and television director, screenwriter and author. He was known internationally for his contributions to the giallo genre during the 1970s, through his films ''Short Night of Gl ...
, Italian film director
* Geronimo Meynier
Geronimo Meynier (5 July 1941 – 23 January 2021) was an Italian film actor who starred in Italian cinema of the 1950s and 1960s. He debuted in '' Amici per la pelle'' in 1955 at age 14. His last film was in 1968.
The Italian actor Geronimo Me ...
, Fiuman-Italian teen film actor
* Osvaldo Ramous
Osvaldo Ramous (Fiume, 11.10.1905 - Rijeka, March 1981) was a prominent Fiuman writer from the city of Rijeka (the former city-state of Fiume, then a part of Italy), who wrote in the Italian language. His diverse works include poetry, prose ...
, Fiuman poet and writer that signed the town's 20th-century literature and cultural life
* Janni Sabucco, Italian writer and author of ''Si Chiamava Fiume'' (1952).
* Romolo Venucci, Fiuman-Italian cubist painter and sculptor
* Ödön von Horváth
Edmund Josef von Horváth (9 December 1901 – 1 June 1938) was an Austro-Hungarian playwright and novelist who wrote in German, and went by the ''nom de plume'' Ödön von Horváth (). He was one of the most critically admired writers of his g ...
, Austro-Hungarian playwright, author of the play '' Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald'', winner of the Kleist Prize
The Kleist Prize is an annual German literature prize. The prize was first awarded in 1912, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the death of Heinrich von Kleist. The Kleist Prize was the most important literary award of the Weimar Rep ...
in 1931
* Heinrich von Littrow, Czech and Austrian poet, writer and cartographer
* Leo von Littrow, Fiuman Impressionist
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
artist, a major exponent of the artistic movement in Southern Europe
Politics and institutions
* Mario Blasich, Fiuman politician and physician, victim of the Fiume Autonomists purge of 1945.
* Giovanni de Ciotta, Fiuman-Italian entrepreneur and politician
* Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (; born 29 April 1968) is a Croatian politician and diplomat who served as the president of Croatia from 2015 to 2020. She was the first woman to be elected to the office since the first multi-party elections in 1990 ...
, Croatia's 4th and first female president from 2015 to 2020
* János Kádár
János József Kádár (; ; né Czermanik; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989) was a Hungarian Communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health led to his retireme ...
, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Communist Party, served for more than 30 years as the leader of Hungary
* Michele Maylender
Michele Maylender () (September 11, 1863 – 1911) was a politician from Austria-Hungary who was the founder of the Autonomist Association, known also as the Autonomist Party in Fiume.
Michele Maylender was born in Fiume (today Rijeka), then pa ...
, Fiuman politician during the Hungarian Crown's dependency, founder of the Autonomist Party of Fiume
* Andrea Ossoinack, businessman and politician, among the founders of the Free State of Fiume and founder of the Autonomist League of Fiume
* Giovanni Palatucci
Giovanni Palatucci (31 May 1909 – 10 February 1945) was an Italian police official who was long believed to have saved thousands of Jews in Fiume between 1939 and 1944 (current Rijeka in Croatia) from being deported to Nazi extermination camps. ...
, last Italian superintendent of Fiume and Righteous Among The Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( ) is a title used by Yad Vashem to describe people who, for various reasons, made an effort to assist victims, mostly Jews, who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nazi Germany, Fascist Romania, Fascist Italy, ...
* Leo Valiani
Leo Valiani (born 9 February 1909 – 18 September 1999) was an Italian historian, politician, and journalist.
Early life
Valiani was born Leó Weiczen in Fiume (now Rijeka), on the Adriatic Sea (then in the Hungary part of Austria-Hungary, ...
, Fiuman-Italian historian, politician and journalist, a prominent dissident during the Italian fascist regime
* Miklós Vásárhelyi
Miklós Vásárhelyi (9 October 1917 – 31 July 2001) was a Hungarian journalist and politician from Hungary. He was the press secretary in the government of Imre Nagy during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. After Hungary’s democratic transiti ...
, Fiuman-Hungarian dissident and writer, famous for his decades-long fight against the Hungarian communist party headed by János Kádár
* Nino Host Venturi, Fiuman-Italian fascist leader, politician and historian
* Alexander von Hoyos, Fiuman-Hungarian diplomat who played a major role during the July Crisis
The July Crisis was a series of interrelated diplomatic and military escalations among the Great power, major powers of Europe in mid-1914, Causes of World War I, which led to the outbreak of World War I. It began on 28 June 1914 when the Serbs ...
while serving as chef de cabinet of the Foreign Minister at the outbreak of World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
in 1914
* Sebő Vukovics
Sebő Vukovics (''Sava Vuković''; 20 July 1811, Fiume – 19 November 1872, London) was a Hungarian politician of Serbian descent, who served as Minister of Justice in 1849 during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
Biography
Sebő (Sebastian) V ...
(''Sava Vuković''), Hungarian Minister of Justice in 1849 during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...
* Riccardo Zanella
Riccardo Zanella (27 June 1875 – 30 March 1959) was a Fiuman politician who was the only elected president of the short-lived Free State of Fiume.
Biography
Zanella was born to an Italian father and Slovene mother in Fiume, Austria-Hungar ...
, Fiuman politician, first and only elected president of the Free State of Fiume
The Free State of Fiume () was an independent free state that existed from 1920 to 1924. Its territory of comprised the city of Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia) and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to the Kingdo ...
Economists and entrepreneurs
* Andrea Lodovico Adamich, Aristocratic trader from Fiume, builder, and one of the most prominent supporters of the economical and cultural development of the city
* Luigi Ossoinack
Luigi Ossoinack (26 June 1849 – 29 October 1904). Born in Fiume, studied in Ljubljana, Graz and Vienna, where he graduated at the commercial academy. He practised trade in Trieste, Odessa, London and North America.
In 1873 he came back to Fiume ...
, serial entrepreneur and businessman, was one of the main drivers of Fiume's economic boom during the second half of the 19th century
* Robert Whitehead, English serial entrepreneur, known for developing the first effective self-propelled torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
, in collaboration with Giovanni Luppis
Giovanni (Ivan) Biagio Luppis Freiherr von Rammer (27 August 1813 – 11 January 1875), sometimes also known by the Croatian name of Vukić, was an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Navy who headed a commission to develop the first prototypes o ...
in Fiume
Sportspeople
*Ivana Dojkić
Ivana Dojkić (born 24 December 1997) is a Croatian professional basketball player for Famila Basket Schio of the Lega Basket Femminile. She previously played for the New York Liberty and the Seattle Storm in the Women's National Basketball A ...
, Croatian basketball player, 2024 WNBA champion
* Mirza Džomba
Mirza Džomba (born 28 February 1977) is a Croatian former professional team handball, handball player, World champion in 2003 World Men's Handball Championship, 2003 and Olympic champion in Handball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's tournam ...
, Croatian handball player, world champion and Olympic champion
* Iva Grbas, Croatian professional basketball player
* Ezio Loik, Italian footballer, member of the Grande Torino
The was the historic Italian football team of Torino Football Club in the 1940s, five-time champions of Italy, whose players were the backbone of the Italy national team and died on 4 May 1949 in the plane crash known as the Superga air di ...
team which won 5 consecutive Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
titles in the 1940s and the Italian national team
* Abdon Pamich, Fiuman-Italian race walker, gold medalist at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics
* Ulderico Sergo
Ulderico Sergo (Fiume, 4 July 1913 – Cleveland, 20 February 1967) was a bantamweight professional boxer from Italy, who won the gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. He defeated Jackie Wilson of the United States by decision in ...
, Fiuman-Italian professional boxer, gold medalist at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin
* Orlando Sirola
Orlando Sirola (30 April 1928 – 13 November 1995) was an Italian tennis player.
Biography
Sirola was born in Fiume, today the Croatian city of Rijeka. He only began playing tennis at the age of 22.
In 1958 he won the singles title at the B ...
, Fiuman-Italian tennis player
* Luciano Sušanj
Luciano Sušanj (10 November 1948 – 14 April 2024) was a Croatian politician, sports worker and track athlete who competed for Yugoslavia. Sušanj was successful in international competition over 400 and 800 meters, but was best known for winn ...
, Fiuman-Croatian politician, European athletic champion
* Mario Varglien
Mario Varglien (; 26 December 1905 – 11 August 1978), also known as Varglien I, was an Italian football player and manager born in Fiume (today Rijeka), who played as a midfielder.
Club career
Varglien played club football with Juventus for mo ...
, Italian footballer, Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
player with record appearances and world champion in 1934
* Oscarre Vicich
Oscarre Vicich, first name also spelled Oscar (26 June 1922, Rijeka, Free State of Fiume - 17 February 1994) was an Italian professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kick ...
, footballer
* Rodolfo Volk, footballer and member of the AS Roma Hall of Fame
* Stefano Vukov, tennis coach known for coaching Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina
* Vladimir Vujasinović, Serbian water polo player, World and European champion, Olympic silver and bronze medalist
Musicians
* Dino Ciani, Fiuman-Italian pianist
* Damir Urban, Croatian musician and singer-songwriter, former member of the band Laufer (band), Laufer
* Ivan Zajc, Fiuman-Croatian composer, conductor, director and teacher
* Baby Lasagna, Marko Purišić, Music Artist, achieved 2nd place in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2024 and known as Baby Lasagna
Others
* Agathe Whitehead, Fiuman-born English heiress and mother of the Trapp family, Trapp Family singers
* Death_of_Hedviga_Golik, Hedviga Golik, a former nurse whose death story was picked up by several media outlets around the world.
In popular culture
The German Western (genre), western Winnetou movies from the 1960s, based on Karl May novels, were in part filmed on location in the outskirts of Rijeka.
Marvel Comics, Marvel's villain Purple Man originates from this city, and Rijeka has been present in many of the character's stories.
The setting of the 1970s cartoon series ''Professor Balthazar
''Professor Balthazar'' () is a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav animation, animated television series for children about an old inventor that was produced between 1967 and 1978. It was created by animator Zlatko Grgić.
The series revolves around benevolen ...
'' was inspired by Rijeka.
The 1980s American TV series ''The Winds of War (miniseries), The Winds of War'' was in part filmed in Rijeka and the surrounding areas.
A stylised version of Fiume during the 1920s was one of the main settings in the 1992 movie ''Porco Rosso'' by world acclaimed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki, as the town in front of which the fantastical "Hotel Adriano" is found and to which it is connected by a boat service taken by the protagonist.
Bruce Sterling's November 2016 novel, written in collaboration with Warren Ellis, ''Pirate Utopia'', a dieselpunk alternative history, is set in Fiume (now Rijeka) in 1920 during the short-lived Italian Regency of Carnaro.
The TV series ''Novine'' (''The Paper''),[The Paper](_blank)
netflix.com.[The Paper](_blank)
, imdb.com. which has been streaming on Netflix since April 2018, is based in Rijeka and the city was used as the main filming location.
In 2019 the movie ''The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard'' with was in part filmed in Rijeka.
Recently Rijeka - with its Industrial archaeology, historic industrial sites, unusual hilly setting, sweeping views and retro architecture - has become a popular location for the filming of Television advertisement, TV-advertisements. Examples include advertisements for the Belgian internet provider Telenet, Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone, German retail chain dm-drogerie markt, DM, Japanese Honda Civic Type R cars, Ukraine, Ukrainian seafood restaurant chain Flagman, Slovenian soft drink brand Cockta, German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes and others.
See also
Quotes about Rijeka
*Čavle
Čavle is a village and a municipality in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia.
History
A 22 December 1939 decision as part of agrarian reforms by Ban of Croatia, Ban Ivan Šubašić, Šubašić to confiscate the forest property in ...
*Charter of Carnaro was the constitution of the Italian Regency of Carnaro
The Italian Regency of Carnaro () was a self-proclaimed state in the city of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) led by Gabriele d'Annunzio between 1919 and 1920.
During World War I (1914–1918), which the Kingdom of Italy entered on the side of t ...
, a short-lived government in Fiume (Rijeka)
*Crikvenica
Crikvenica () is a town in west Croatia, located on the Adriatic in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
Names
The names of the town in various languages include:
*
*
*
*
Geography
Crikvenica is located southeast of Rijeka and is the largest s ...
*Drenova, Rijeka
*Free State of Fiume, Fiume (disambiguation)
*Geography of Croatia
*Ilario Carposio
*Kastav
Kastav is a town in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, western part of Croatia, built on a 365 m high hill overlooking the Kvarner Gulf on the northern coast of the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic. It is in close vicinity of Rijeka, the largest port in Croatia ...
*Kostrena
Kostrena () is a Croatian municipality east of Rijeka on the Kvarner Bay. It is famous for its beaches and a long tradition of seafaring and seamanship. Because of its rocky beaches and a walkway that goes along the shoreline, it is very popular ...
*Kvarner Gulf
The Kvarner Gulf (, or ; ; or ) sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal waters.
The largest is ...
*List of governors and heads of state of Fiume
*Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje – Gorski Kotar County (, ) is a Counties of Croatia, county in western Croatia, most of it based in the historical and cultural region called Croatia proper and some of it in Istria, including the Bay of Kvarner, the surrounding Northe ...
* Robert Whitehead
*Rječina
The Rječina (; or ), also known as the Fiumara, is a river in Croatia that flows into the Adriatic Sea at the city of Rijeka ().
It is about long, with an average width of . It springs from a cave at an elevation of above sea level, below the ...
* Sušak
*Trsat
Trsat (, ) is part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia, with a historic castle or fortress in a strategic location and several historic churches, in one of which the Croatian noble Prince Vuk Krsto Frankopan is buried. Trsat is a steep hill, 138 m ...
* Fužine
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
* Reill, Dominique Kirchner. ''The Fiume Crisis: Life in the Wake of the Habsburg Empire'' (2020
online review
Notes
External links
*
*
Rijeka Tourist Board
Port of Rijeka Authority
Old Postcards of Fiume
Rijeka detailed map
*
{{Authority control
Rijeka,
Oil campaign of World War II
Cities and towns in Croatia
Populated coastal places in Croatia
Port cities and towns of the Adriatic Sea
Mediterranean port cities and towns in Croatia
Populated places in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Populated places in Croatia where Italian is an official language
Capitals of former nations