Dvigrad (Kanfanar), Travel Guide for holidays in Dvigrad, Istria

Dvigrad – Points of interests

During Illyrian times existed two colonies which later, in early mediaeval times, became two towns, Parentino and Moncastello. The former quickly extinct, but the latter, in the ownership of the Aquileian patriarch, developed further under the name of Duecastelli.It can be reconstructed that inside the walls people lived here and that the village and the basilica of St.Sophia existed from the 11th century. In the mid 17th century malaria and the plague were prevailing in Istria, which didn’t spare the citizens of Dvigrad either. Thus, in 1631 most of the 700 hundred inhabitants left the town, and the remaining three families left in 1714, when the church was abandoned as well. The ruins and the pulpit from the 14th century were bought into the church of St. Silvester in Kanfanara, where the inhabitants of Dvigrad had moved as well. The town is very well maintained, since it hadn’t been destroyed in the wars that were ravaging through Istria, but rather because it was abandoned by the inhabitants of the town. The town gates still exist, as well as two circles of the town walls, some of the defense towers are preserved, as well as the most part of the 200 houses. The St. Sophia Church was an early Christian church with three naves which dominated the town and which was built on solid rock. Unfortunately, because the church wasn’t maintained, it decayed in the 19th century. Until recently, the town has been left to snakes, the macchia, the north-eastern wind and to the scatters of time, but lately it is undergoing restauration, so that Dvigrad has become a must for everybody who finds oneself closeby. It is only a 20 minute car ride away from Rovinj.

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