Prenzana

Once frequent and important, today nearly forgotten traffic route which was in function from 1902 to 1935. I am talking about Parenzana, one-rail railway connecting Istria with Trieste over a series of stations, with Porec as a final station. The main purpose of this railway was to transfer agricultural goods of northwestern Istria.

Parenzana crossed three states: Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, and the first section (Trieste – Buje) was opened on 1 April 1902. Today, the Parenzana route is rearranged into cycling and tracking paths, and a large number of facilities, bridges, viaducts and tunnels are saved.

An interesting destiny of this railway tracks should be mentioned. Italian government dismantled the tracks and shipped them into Ethiopia which had just been occupied. The ship never made it to its destination as it sunk in the Mediterranean Sea.

The railway was long 122 km, bypassing hills and watercourses. Traveling by quick (passenger) line took about 6 hours, and freight about 7 hours.