From Parenzo Pola may be reached either by land or sea, the latter being the more convenient way. The only place of importance passed is Rovigno, though the Canal di Leme, an arm of the sea 7-½ miles long, from 70 to 100 ft. deep, and some 500 yds. broad, which affords accommodation for much more shipping than ever makes use of it, leads up towards Due Castelli, now ruinous, but at one time a thriving and important town. On the way, near Orsera, the little island of "Scoglio Orlandino" is passed, rocky and divided into two portions by a chasm or crack. Legend says that Orlando, passing that way, made a slash at it and left it as it now is.

Rovigno is thought to be the ancient Arupenum or Rubinum, but is first mentioned by the anonymous Ravennese chronicler, and was probably founded in the third or fourth century. In the walls of the principal church are fragments of sixth-century work. There is a tradition that it was founded when Cissa sank into the sea in the seventh century. The site of this city was near the modern lighthouse, and remains of its buildings are believed to be recognisable beneath the water at the point called Barbariga, on the further side of the Bay of S. Pelagio. The large beds of murex shells in certain places are an indication that there were purple dye-works here, an industry for which Cissa was celebrated. Rovigno is situated upon a rock, and was surrounded with walls. Within their area the houses, as seen from the sea or from the railway station behind the town, seem to be piled one over the other, and culminate very picturesquely in the campanile at the top. Beyond the railway station on the Bay of S. Pelagio are the Berlin aquarium for the study of the marine fauna of the Adriatic, and a sanatorium for scrofulous children, opened in 1888. The neighbourhood being fever-stricken the peasants live in the city, going and returning to their work morning and evening. Their Sunday costume consists of ornamented leather shoes, tight white hose of wool, a broad-sleeved white shirt with a frill in front, dark waistcoat, and flat black cap. They have the curious custom of wearing one large earring in the left ear. Rovigno is a good market for wine—considered the best in Istria—olives, sardines, and hazel-nuts which are reputed the finest in the world. Consequently, amongst the inhabitants are many merchants, and the fishers' guild is very numerous; but the steep streets are narrow and, in wet weather, noisome, and the children do not look as healthy as in many other places. During our stay we saw two funerals in the Colleggiata within a few hours, both attended by a red-robed confraternity which included boys and men. The spectacle in the darkening nave (for it was late afternoon) of the two rows of red-robed figures holding lighted tapers, with two or three ensigns or symbols in the background, was impressive, but marred by atrocious singing. The officiating priest was a fine man; and, as the cortÈge departed to the cemetery just below the church on the seaward side, there was an impression of solemnity which is often lacking in English funerals. A few late Venetian palaces, with fine loggias at the top to catch the sea-breezes, show above the other houses, and the arch between the fish-market and the Piazza S. Damiano, erected in 1680 under Daniele Balbi, still stands, with the Venetian lion holding a book proudly inscribed: "Victoria tibi Marce Evangelista meus"; but the walls have entirely disappeared, with the exception of one ruinous tower, the "Torre del Boraso," which has been in that state since the sixteenth century. At the beginning of the fourteenth century it belonged to the bishop of Pola; the Colleggio dei Cinque Savi acquired it in 1332, and ordered its occupation by the captain of the Pasenatico and the podestÀ of Rovigno, asking whether it was best to preserve or destroy it, the former course being determined on.

A curious heptagonal building, the Oratory of the Trinity, which stands some distance outside the ancient walls, appears to be rather early in date. It has a polygonal drum rising from the roof of the lower portion, and two curious little pierced and carved windows about three feet high; one of them is too much broken to make out the design. The other has a crucifix with half-length figures, and consecration cross among the piercings, very roughly cut. The head is slightly pointed. The Colleggiata has been rebuilt in late Renaissance style; and the campanile, crowned by a figure of S. Eufemia, the patron saint of the town, is a copy of that of S. Mark's, Venice. The chapel to the right of the high-altar contains the shrine of the saint, a large unfinished sarcophagus of Greek marble. It has two arches on the side with figures scarcely begun, and an octagonal tablet with curved sides in the middle. The legend is that the body of the saint floated over the waves in the great sarcophagus, and was driven by a storm into a little inlet called the "Armo di S. Eufemia," a short way from the pier, where a square pillar with an inscription of 1720 and the communal arms marks the place where it grounded. Some fishers who went out at dawn were attracted by the miraculous light which shone around it. Several days passed before the heavy sarcophagus could be moved. A certain pious widow, with the suggestive name of "Astuta," had a dream, as a consequence of which a pair of bullocks was yoked to it by her little son, and so it went up the hill to the summit at such a rate as to run over one of the bystanders, who was nearly killed, and fainted. When he revived he revealed the name of the saint, and her bones were found within the sarcophagus together with the history of her martyrdom. From that time the hill has had the name of S. Eufemia. The relics were taken by the Genoese in 1380 and carried to Chioggia. The Venetians rescued them, but carried them to S. Canciano, Venice, where they stayed for thirty years. On their return to Rovigno in 1410 a storm drove the ship to the salt-works in the Canal di Leme, where certain cattle-boats were sheltering. The cattle jumped into the water and danced round the ship! So, at least, a manuscript in the capitular archives relates. Scenes from this legend are painted on the walls of the chapel. In the sacristy is a fourteenth or fifteenth-century picture on a gold ground—a figure of S. John the Baptist, with incidents from his life. It came from a church dedicated to him which was destroyed in 1839.

Rovigno and the neighbourhood have suffered much from piracy. In 965 the Slavs sacked the city. Into the harbour the Uscocs entered one night at the beginning of 1597, and sacked a galley and ten ships laden with rich merchandise belonging to Venice. In the port of Vestre (the birthplace of Maximian of Ravenna), about three miles from Rovigno, an Uscoc ship, with 150 men, attacked a ship of Cattaro which carried letters from the doge of Venice, 6,000 ducats of public money and 4,000 of private, with valuable merchandise. They took everything and also stripped the other Venetian ships in the harbour, leaving the sailors nothing but their shirts!

The Canal of Fasana, between the Brioni Islands and the mainland, a little to the south, was the scene of the crushing defeat of the Venetians by the Genoese in 1379. The quarries in these islands, together with those of Rovigno, provided stone for the ducal and other palaces, the Procuratie at Venice, the murazzi at Chioggia, and the mole at Malamocco. It is but a short distance hence to the entrance to the magnificent harbour of Pola.

Craftsmen of Rovigno have made the name of the town celebrated, such as the sculptors Lorenzo and Antonio del Vescovo, who worked in 1468 at the Camaldulan church of Murano, and Taddeo da Rovigno, who did much decorative carving in Venetian palaces. A more distinguished man was Fra Sebastiano da Rovigno, the lame Slavonian (il Zoppo Schiavone), the teacher of the still more celebrated intarsiatore, Fra Damiano of Bergamo. Some of his works are in the choir and sacristy of S. Mark's, Venice. The name of Donato of Parenzo is also coupled with these Rovignese craftsmen.