Trogir

Greek colonists from the island of Vis founded Tragurion in the 3rd century BC as a trading settlement, and its orthogonal street plan, with the ancient main streets still in use, dates from that period. The town grew under Roman, Byzantine and Croatian rule, and the present cathedral was begun in 1213 on the site of an earlier one destroyed in 1123.

Venetian rule from 1420 left Renaissance and Baroque palaces and the Kamerlengo fortress, built in the 15th century. UNESCO inscribed the Historic City of Trogir on the World Heritage List in 1997, highlighting how its Hellenistic street plan survives beneath Romanesque churches and later Renaissance and Baroque buildings.

Trogir remains a lived-in town where families have occupied the same stone houses for generations. Locals gather for coffee on the Riva, and in summer the squares host concerts and festivals. The Benedictine nuns of St Nicholas continue a long tradition of embroidery and art, and the cathedral is still the centre of the town's religious life.