Venice had to pay a fee to the Aquileia Patriarchs for Rovinj and other towns that decided to became part of the Venice Republic.

Venice left Rovinj with formal Municipal freedom but Podesta’, who had a significant importance in the towns’ life, was named by Venice.

In the middle of the 13th century Rovinj also changed the town’s coat of arms. The first coat of arms had a pomegranate on it and the second one has a red cross.

Like most other Istrian towns and villages also Rovinj suffered from plague and wars. The major plague years were: 1343, 1348, 1465, 1468.

In 1379 Rovinj was occupied by Genoa soldiers during the war between Genoa and Venice and they took with them the body of St. Euphemia. Two years later Venetians in another battle took the body from Genoa soldiers but in end they returned it to Rovinj only in 1410.

The population have significantly increased during the Turkish conquers in the Balkan area and many refugees from that area came to Rovinj at the time.

This is the reason why Rovinj became a town with very tall buildings of almost four storeys. Over time, with waning of the danger of attack by potential enemies, more and more houses were built outside the town walls.

The war between Venice and Turkey happened several times between 16th and 18th century and also Rovinj participated with its ships to those wars. Rovinj was also involved in the wars between Venice and Austria and in 1597 was attacked by Uskoci for the first time and again later on in 1610.

In 1763 the main town gates, named the old bridge tower, was demolished and the canal that separated Rovinj island from the main land was filled in so the town began to spread in the surrounding area.

With the fall of Venice in 1797, Rovinj became a part of the Austrian Empire and for a short period of time was under Napoleon domination. After the First World War and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Rovinj, was part of Italy and after the Second World War became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia).

During the Italian Fascist period in Istria many Istrian families suffered from the regime or had to leave Istria. Fascism in Istria applied various repressive measures mostly towards Slav populations and this created the Antifascist Movement.

The Second World War was a very painful experience for the Istrian population and many innocent Istrians, both Slav and Latin, died during that war.

After the second World War Rovinj became part of Yugoslavia (Croatia). There were three agreements between Yugoslavia and Italy which established that Istria would become a part of Yugoslavia: Paris Agreement of 1947, London Memorandum of 1954 and the Osimo Agreement reached in 1975. In the first decade after the Second World War many Istrians, especially those living in towns and villages that for centuries were part of the Venice Republic, decided to leave Istria.

In 1991 with the fall of Yugoslavia and the founding of the Republic of Croatia, the internal republic boundaries were recognised as the state boundaries and Rovinj is today part of Croatia.

In 2013 Rovinj became part of the European Union. You can not change the past but you can try to learn from it. The main aim of the European Union founders was to build a system that could avoid future wars and future refugees in Europe as I explain in COSMOPOLITE.