OPATIJA history : tourist Queen of Croatia

ourist history of Opatija starts in 1844 when a merchant from Rijeka, Iginio Scarpa built villa "Angiolina" which he named after his late wife. Besides numerous friends and Scarpa’s business partners, many dignitaries have been guests of the villa. In 1985 it was Croatian ban Josip Jelacic with his wife, in 1860 czar Ferdinand’s wife and queen mother empress Mary Ann. Sheltered from cold winds with lushes vegetation and mild climate, Opatija attracts Austrian South Railways Society that villa "Angiolina" from count Chorinsky in 1882 and in 1884, after only ten month of building, hotel “Kvarner”, the first hotel on eastern Adriatic coast was opened. This was the beginning of very rich building activity.
 

Today’s Opatija was created by merging few sea side settlements – Črnikovica, Volosko, Lipovica, Škrbići, Opatija and Vasanska. Among those settlements the oldest is Volosko. Volosko was the center of the county – the lowest but esteemed form of organization. As the center, Volosko becomes not only rather important port, but also a pleasant resort of numerous officials of the time.

patija got it`s name form the Benedictine monastery, abbey (opatija in Croatian) situated by the sea. This small monastery erected at the beginning of XII century, in the same time as other Benedictine monasteries in Istria and in the Quarner region. In the beginning of XIX century Optaija was far from the traffic connections because the main route from Rijeka led to the north, south and west over Kastav and Učka to Istria, and to Ljubljana and Trieste. Finally in 1838 a road along the sea from Rijeka to Volosko was built. This opened the region to inhabitants of Rijeka and to their guests, who could now reach Volosko and Opatija by coach.

In the middle of 19th century, because the ferry boat prevailed over the sailing ship, Volosko started to lose its importance as a merchant port but at the same time Opatija developed as a resort for tired inhabitant of big and noisy big towns. 

1844 is considered the staring year of tourism in Opatija because villa "Angiolina" from the very beginning welcomed visitors from all over the world, friends and business partners of the Scarpa family.
 

By the end of 19th century first  hotel in Opatija was built and together with that access roads, sea side and forest promenades, aqueducts and big restaurants. Since than Opatija was, in summer and winter, favorite resort of many prominent people.