The storytelling experience “21,000 meters through Istria: the story of the old railway“ brought to life the history of the former railway that connected Rovinj and Kanfanar. The event took place in a settlement called Sošići and began with time-travelling, guided by the time traveller Maris who took the visitors back to the past with the help of a very unusual time machine – her bike.

This Istra Inspirit performance introduced the visitors to the story of the old railway and unveiled some interesting and intriguing tales and anecdotes that represent an important milestone in the history of this part of Istria. Princess Valerie, the niece of Emperor Franz Joseph arrived directly from Vienna to share her own story from the train wagons. The former railway had a direct link between Rovinj and Vienna, which is why many prominent people of that time were frequent travellers on this route. The visitors also met Slavko, a railway keeper and a true train buff, whose story about the steam trains passing through Istria made everyone sentimental about the good old days. At the end of the story, the visitors came upon the cyclist Bepo, who shared his passion for exploring Istria on two wheels. The performance, which gradually moved from the past into the future, caught the attention of those present and reminded them how quickly time goes by.

The storytelling experience was directed by Frano Novljan, who we also saw in the role of the railway keeper Slavko, together with the performer Sedina Cerovac as Maris, Ivona Bulešić as princess Valerie and Dejan Gotal as the cyclist Bepo.

With this opportunity we would like to thank the Istrian Development Agency – IDA, Kanfanar Tourist Board, the Municipality of Kanfanar and the City of Rovinj for their cooperation, on whose account a new connection between bikes and trains was established and the staging of the Istra Inspirit storytelling performance was enabled. This interesting performance not only brought back to life the history of the old railway from Rovinj to Kanfanar, but also served its purpose of developing new products of cultural tourism in Istria.

Having in mind the current circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, all necessary recommendations and epidemiological measures of the Croatian Institute of Public Health were implemented and respected by the organizers, performers and the public during this event.

Istra Inspirit is a cultural tourism project in Istria that is carried out within the Istrian Tourism Development Agency – IRTA d.o.o. in collaboration with the Istria Tourist Board.

You can find more information about the Istria Inspirit project here:

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The congress was organized under the motto “Meet, share & build” which aims to encourage meetings (“Meet” concept) of leading people in tourism and archaeology of historic cities, exchange of experiences in their promotion in the domestic and international tourism market (“Share” concept), as well as the development of new tourism products and arrangements through the joint engagement of leading people in destination tourism (“Build” concept). Istra Inspirit as an example of good practice of cultural tourism, which for nine years in a row successfully revives the history, myths and legends of the Istrian peninsula through authentic experiences (850) on cultural and historical locations. The peculiarity of the storytelling method used through the experiences of Istra Inspirit with the revival of cultural and traditional heritage and successfully carried out through experience walks – Casanova Tour in Vrsar, Magic Bale Walking Tour, Dvigrad Storytelling Tour, Roman Vižula Walking Tour. By using resources of rich cultural heritage that serve as a backdrop for authentic experiences, visitors to the destination gain benefit with the creation of a new  tourist product. The future and further development of the project is reflected through performances, authentic experiences and interpretive walks following new trends in cultural tourism.

We thank the Solin Tourist Board for the invitation and participation in the international congress and the exchange of knowledge and experience in the form of promotion of various tourist destinations.

The full presentation of all lecturers can be found at the following link

Istra Inspirit is a cultural tourism project which is implemented within the Istrian Tourism Development Agency – IRTA d.o.o. with the support of the Administrative Department for Tourism of the Region of Istria.

With a great desire to transmit the theatre, performance, experiences and emotions – everything that makes Istra Inspirit unique and authentic during almost a decade, to our audience at least partially, a virtual interpretative walk through the streets of Vrsar – Casanova Tour will be organized so the audience will be able to enjoy it virtually. Within the Casanova Tour experience you will be able to discover all the secrets of the exciting life of the most famous world lover when he visited Vrsar in 1473, and enjoy the most inspiring viewpoints of this idyllic fishermen little town.

The project is realized in cooperation of the Tourist Board of Vrsar that during several years has been developing the destination experience tourism with the Istrian Tourism Development Agency – IRTA d.o.o. while creating the new tourist products that are reviving the cultural-historical heritage and tradition of this region. A short video of the interpretative walk will be shown at the Interpret Europe web conference 2020 – Fostering heritage communities on online channels from the 8^th to 11^th of May 2020, which additionally proves the quality of this project.

The Manual refers to the entire EUSAIR area (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and provides full insight into models and recommendations for creating innovative participatory tourism products based on intangible heritage and storytelling. Storytelling has been there since ancient times. It was, and still is, a way of connecting people, creating community and emotions. Nowadays, people have recognized the power of storytelling that unites, creates a new culture, creates products, is a marketing tool and an important communication tool. So in tourism, storytelling enables the development of marketing and management of tourist destinations, products, attractions and involvement of service providers. With this vision this work is created, which consists of chapters covering storytelling and participatory tourism in general, provides a comparison with similar models in EUSAIR countries and explains what storytelling is, through the prism of Istra Inspirita project. Manual extensively describes the beginnings and development of the Istra Inspirit project as a cultural tourism product and lists the advantages and disadvantages of certain models, methods of promotion and financing, the involvement of the local community and all its stakeholders in the projects, with particular emphasis on the methodology that achieves the ultimate goal – implementation of storytelling tours (on the example of the Casanova tour in Vrsar) or the experience (on the example of the Legend of thorndancers). During the nine years of Istra Inspirit implementation it is visible product, business, acting, directing, stage design development and other skills that contribute to success.

The success of the Istra Inspirit project initiated by the Istrian County, which is now part of the Istrian Tourism Development Agency, led to the creation of a Manual to educate and guide other EUSAIR member states (and beyond) on creating storytelling experiential experiences following the model of Istria / Croatian.

Otherwise, the Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Croatia, within the framework of EUSAIR, which provided funds for the preparation of the manual, has the role of the coordinator of the 4th pillar for sustainable tourism, as well as the role of the national project partner in the Facility Point project, and promotes key sustainability topics in tourism in line with Member State priorities.

Download the Manual by clicking on the link:

Manual for Participatory Tourism that connects Community and Culture with Storytelling

Conventa Best Event Award 2019 is awarded in 3 categories: B2B, B2C and Crossover. The jury consists of international experts in marketing and event organization who will evaluate creativity, innovation, communication, sustainability and execution. The final decision on the winner will be influenced by the votes of the audience at the conference, as well.

Istra Inspirit will have the opportunity to present the project to the numerous audience at the conference and in that way increase its chance of winning the 1^st prize in the B2C category competing with other renowned projects.

It will also be a great opportunity for project promotion and making new contacts abroad.

More information on the competition, jury and finalists find on the link: https://www.crossover.si/finalists-2019/

This nomination is the result of long term successful Istra Inspirit activities carried out though IRTA (Istrian Tourism Development Agency). The project has already been awarded 7 times: CBTour  – award for the best creative programme in Croatian business tourism, MRAK Network  for development and creativity – award for the most creative and innovative tourist product, “Simply the best”, Zlatna koza 2012/Capra d’oro 2012, Golden Zoom Awards – the best marketing campaign, Creative Tourism Award – the most creative experience in 2014 and 3^rd place for the contribution in cultural and creative industries awarded by ECTN (European Cultural Tourism Network) in Cyprus in October 2018.

All visitors will be able to try their luck in the Istra Inspirit interactive game – „Become a CITTADINO ILLUSTRE of the Vrsar castle“, where they will have to prove they are obeying the rules of the Vrsar Statute and perform certain tasks in order to become castle’s residence. The Statute was issued by Poreč bishops which with it made sure there was peace in the old town core at the time. The entrance to the old town was controlled – meaning all men had to be freshly shaved, there was only one stove oven to bake bread, wine quality was controlled. The ones who broke any of the statute parts were punished on the Shame pillar on the town square.

Lovers of Istrian tradition and gastronomy will enjoy the Old fair’s programme – they’ll be able to visit stands of more than a dozen family run farms and crafts which will present their products and souvenirs of wood, stone leather and lavender.

The Old fair under the castle event will lead visitors on a time travel and show them the Vrsar way of living in the 17th century according to the Statute. The Statute contributed to Vrsar’s development , since strict hygene rules prevented diseases present in other Istrian places.
All Earldom living characteristics will be presented  through Old fair organized by Vrsar Tourism Board in cooperation with Istra Inspirit and Vrsar caterer’s association.

This year’s second edition will be held on September 7th and 8th.

The performance started in front of Valamar’s Isabella Island Resort, where visitors were welcomed by well-known Professor Epulonius de Histri, who this year wants to find at least one of the many hidden Istrian treasures. He was accompanied by playful dwarfs Macmalići from Labin coal mine, with whom visitors could dance and sing their favorite songs. Apart from them, the walk around the island revealed  a multitude of other characters, such as the enchanted snake – queen, sea mermaids who swam around the island,  a pirate who told the story of the stolen bells thrown into the sea near Poreč, fairies with who the visitors built the Arena, Orko who has turned everything upside down and many characters from the magical forests which introduced the audience to te magical world of fairies and elves. The performance of Istria Inspiria ended in a park in front of the Valamar Isabella castle, where the audience had the opportunity to skip over the bonfire with Macmalići, with which they stayed forever connected with this Istra Inspirit experience. Contribution to the successful performance was also given by a large number of actors, dancers, musicians and acrobats: Frano Novljan, Šandor Slacki, Sedina Cerovac, Ivona Bulešić, Jasna Petković, Zoja Poropat, Dejan Gotal, Samantha Kelemen, Martina Božić, Kristijan Dellabernardina, Andrej Pezić, Nataša Dragun, Luka Barešić, Amadea Družetić, te Anamaria Badurina, a sve pod redateljskom palicom Petre B. Blašković.

Interactive walks with Istria Inspirit continues every Sunday during July and August, ending on august the 19th, and starting at 20.30.Walks around the island of Sveti Nikola provides domestic and foreign visitors to learn about the characters of Istrian mythology, interaction, entertainment and emotion told through the manner of storytelling.

The entrance is free for all visitors,  but due to limited capacity, visitors have to book their place on the official website of Poreč Open Air Festival: http://porecopenair.com/.

Photo credit: Robert Marić

The Statute dating back to the 17th century was brought by Poreč’s bishops to Vrsar, providing the order in then old town. The entrance to the old town was controlled so that the men had to be shaved, all people bake their bread in only stove that existed, wine had to be top quality and those who would violate certain rules, were punished on a pillar of shame in the middle of the square. Visitors of the event together with Istra Inspirit and the local population could become citizens of Vrsar and received the Certificate, a souvenir from the Old fair. The entire program was performed in Italian – Croatian dialect, and the characters that made the audience laugh were barber, who tried to shave audience’s beards, Gastaldi who controlled the entrance to the city, and Cavalier who tried to explain the rules of the Statute to everyone and numerous statisticians, residents of Vrsar who have contributed to the revival of history and the preservation of the tradition of this city. Performers Istra Inspirit – actors and musicians who amazed in their roles were Frano Novljan (creative director’s assitant), Luka Barešić, Šandor Slacki, Denis Brižić, Dejan Gotal, Ivona Bulešić. Jasna Petkovic, Sedina Cerovac, Nataša Dragun and Anica Franjul.

The event reminds us on what way Vrsar once lived and how the Statute worked and affected the inhabitants. The organizers of the event are the Tourist Board of Vrsar and the Association of Caterers Vrsar.

The second edition of the Old fair will be held on 07 and 08 September.

Photo credit: Saša Halambek

The Statute dating back to the 17th century was brought by Poreč’s bishops to Vrsar, providing the order in then old town. The entrance to the old town was controlled so that the men had to be shaved, all people bake their bread in only stove that existed, wine had to be top quality and those who would violate certain rules, were punished on a pillar of shame in the middle of the square. Visitors will have the opportunity to become citizens of Vrsar with Istra Inspirit, if they pass three points, and will receive a Certificate, which will also be a souvenir from the Old fair. The entire program will be performed in Italian – Croatian dialect, and some of the characters that can be expected are Barber who is in charge of shaving other people’s beards, Gastaldi who will control the entrance of people to the city, Cavalier who will try to explaing to everybody the rules from the Statute and also actors amateurs that will help revive the history.

Through the event the visitors are reminded how the people of Vrsar once lived and how the Statute worked and affected on residents. The Statute also contributed to the development of Vrsar because strict hygene rules prevented the various diseases that were present in the Istria of those days. All the specifics of life in the Vrsar County will attempted to be presented through the Old fair, which will be full of experiences also this year. The organizers of the event are the Tourist Board of Vrsar and the Caterers Association of Vrsar.

The second edition of the Old fair will be held on 7th and 8th September.

Performers of Istra Inspirit will on ‘Casanova Tour’ bring all visitors on the unforgettable journey in the time of Vrsar County, when the seducer and adventurer Giacomo Casanova twice stayed in Vrsar. For the first time, as he wrote in his ‘Memoirs’ which served as a source for the scenario of this innovative tour, he visited Vrsar for three days in August 1743, as a poor and unknown priest. The second time he arrived in Vrsar as a soldier, during his trip which started from Venetian island of Malamocco, when his boat was achored for one night in Vrsar’s harbor.

Giacomo Casanova, who has the reputation of the greatest lover in history, returned to Vrsar, allegedly because of the beautiful girls that are in Vrsar. Visitors of this tour will be able to discover the more intimate side of Casanova’s Vrsar and all the interesting features that characterize his stay in Vrsar. They will also visit Viewpoint St. Anthony, Viewpoint Casanova, the main town gate and Casanova’s Sanctuary. The actors and artists that participate in the ‘Casanova Tour’ are: Frano Novljan, Šandor Slacki, Luka Barešić, Sedina Cerovac and Ivona Bulešić.

This interactive tour starts in front of the Tourist Board of the Municipality of Vrsar at 20:00. Tour is not charged, with a mandatory booking at info@istrainspirit.hr or info@infovrsar.com. The organizer of this program is the Tourist Board of the Vrsar Municipality, with the support of Maistra d.d.