From that period St. Euphemia is together with St. George the patron of the town. According to the people’s tradition the sarcophagus with the body of St. Euphemia arrived in Rovinj near to the place where the Church of St. Cross was built, and in that place in memory of the event the Municipality put a stone column in 1720.

Two other stories linked with the origin of the name are both linked to the castle named Arupino that was destroyed by Romans, probably by Consul Caio Claudio Pulcro in 177 BC or by Emperor Augustus in 14 BC. With the ruins of this castle the Rovinj could have been built. According to Pietro Kandler the origin of the name Rovinj would derive from Arupinum or Arupium.

The documents left by the anonymous geographer from Ravenna from the 7th century tell us that Castrum Ruginium had existed on the site for a very long time and in that document Rovinj was named Ruvigno and Ruginio.

The Roman castrum was likely located on the site of today’s Parish Church of St. Euphemia and it could have developed between 2nd and 5th century. The six centuries of Roman peace in Istria was followed by turbulent times when different people made inroads and war campaigns both from the land and from the sea.

Rovinj was part of Gothic and later on Byzantine Empire from 539 until 788. From 753 until 774 was occupied by Longobards like most other Istrian towns and villages.

From the 6th to the 10th century many people from central Istria found shelter in the fortified Rovinj island. At the time Rovinj was an important settlement.

Its representatives participated in the work of the Risano Decree in 804 and Rovinj was third most important settlement in Istria after Pula and Porec.

During the 9th century Rovinj was several times attacked by Croatian pirates from the river Neretva and Saracen pirates. Saracen pirates attacked Rovinj in 819 and 842, while Croatian pirates in 865, 876, 880 and 887.

In 929 Ugo from Provence, the King of Italy, donated Rovinj to Bishops of Porec, and few decades later, in 965, Rovinj suffered another attack from the Croatian pirates.

During the feudal period most of the Istrian towns and villages have changed many different rulers, while the coastal Istrian towns like Rovinj continued to battle for the Municipal autonomy.

It is likely that Rovinj had its own town statute already in the 13th century. That document was lost and the oldest town statute dates back into 1531.

the Aquileia Patriarchs and Bishops of Porec had a long dispute over the rights over Rovinj and in end the Pope Alessandro III in a document from 1178 confirmed those rights to Bishops of Porec. It is interesting that in 1188 Rovinj and Dubrovnik signed an agreement obliging both sides to engage in mutual trade.

When Venice started to became an important and powerful town, Rovinj, like several other Istrian coastal towns, tried to increase its privileges by managing the relationships between the two powers existing in Istria at the time: the Aquileia Patriarchs and the Venetian Republic.

At the beginning of the 11th century Rovinj created first agreements with Venice but in 1145 and in 1149, together with Pula, it has tried to exit the agreement. Venice did not agree with that Rovinj’s decision.

At the time Rovinj depended for its church from Bishops of Porec but was owned by Marquis of Istria that depended of Bishops of Porec.

In the 12th century Bishops of Porec gave the feud to different rulers so we have at the time as Lords of Rovinj: Guicero, Artuico from Motovun and Scandalo.

In 1178 Count of Gorizia, Eghelberto II, occupied Rovinj and arrested Scandalo. Bishops of Porec asked the Aquileia Patriarchs to help them to turn back Rovinj and in 1193 the successor of Eghelberto II, Count Mainardo II of Gorizia had to return it.

In 1209 Rovinj passed to the Aquileia Patriarchs. There were other feudal Lords in that century that received part of the rights over Rovinj like: Gramatanico da Legio, Monfiorito Sergi from Pula, Glicerio Sergi (1279). Successors of the Sergi family continued to receive part of the Rovinj’s feudal rights until 1810.

During that century Rovinj was involved in several disputes with Piran and Kopar and in 1265 was in dispute with the Aquileia Patriarchs. Venice helped Rovinj in a dispute with Kopar and in 1283 Rovinj decided to join Venice but the Aquileia Patriarchs did not agree to that and the dispute was resolved in 1310.