Turnina is an ancient fortress, located on the hill Turnina, just 4 kilometers east of Rovinj, on the road Rovinj – Rovinjsko selo.
Because of it’s strategic position at the plateau with elevation height of 107 meters, during the Second World War, the partisans used it as an observation tower.
For that reason, the Germans destroyed it so that today there are just ruins remains left . Even today, from the remains of the fortress walls you can overlook the city of Rovinj, the Saline bay straight to the Beach Colone in Bale.
In prehistoric times the fortress Turnina was a fort constructed on underground corridors drilled in the rock. The openings on the first and second floor prove that it was once used for living.
Throughout history the fort changed it’s owners : it was used as a Roman fortress, so it was occupied by the Lombards, the Franks, for a while by the Bishops of Poreč.
The fort changed the feudal owners and after the 2nd World War becomes nationalized. There have been found remains of the Roman and Byzantine coins, many metal objects, arrows and different types of weapons.
Information source: LIT.: L. Foscan, I Castelli medioevali dell’Istria, Trieste 1992.
