07 The trail of St. Pelagius route

Welcome to the track of St. Pelagius which is going to lead you through the antique Neapolis, in other words through the charming urban streets’ interlace of the medieval Civitas Nova or Aemonia, as the nowadays’ Novigrad used to be named in the historical documents in the period from the IX and until the XIII century a. C. Risen on an island which just in the XVIII century a. C. has made its junction with the continent, in the early year 599 mentioned for the first time, Novigrad still preserves the beautiful authentic medieval structure. Amongst the excellent restaurants, the nice taverns (konobe) and the terraces on which it is possible to experience the authentic Mediterranean idleness, do not miss to break just for a while in the magical municipal loggia from where there is a magnificent view to the sea horizon and it’s possible to admire the facades of few beautiful houses built in gothic style and of residential palaces as for instance the Rigo palace from the year 1760. However, do not forget to pop over to the city walls and to the parish church of St. Mary, Maximilian and Pelagius which, in spite of being turned to baroque in the mid XVIII century, on the inside preserves some Roman fragments, and even those from a basilica original from the late Christianity.

During the archaeological researches made in 1895 when, in the three naves crypt from the early Roman period, the only one and one of just few similar in the whole Croatia, were searched the fundaments of the basilica of the late Christianity, several fragments of liturgical furniture of the early medieval period have been found there, which are kept today in the collection at the municipal lapidary. If you are interested in these traces of the past, do not miss to visit the renamed lapidary of Novigrad, which vaunts a well preserved ciborium of Maurizio from the end of the VIII century, one of the few examples of the Carolingian art in these areas.

Fulfilled with cognitions about the rich history of Novigrad and of the temporal layers immortalized by the artefacts of the sacral art, go further towards Antenal – the nearby village and over the inland through the picturesque villages of St. Dionysius and Serbani, to finally reach Karigador – the touristic village. Located at the northernmost part of the port of Dajla by the sea, the name Karigador takes origin from the Italian verb “caricare” which, translated has the meaning of ‘’loading’’, since once there was a port for the loading of oak tree trunks appointed to the Venetian arsenal, and later also for the exportation of agricultural products coming from the surroundings of Brtonigla. If you continue further along the track across Mareda, here you are back again in Novigrad. So let’s taste some deserved good wine back there