Piran’s countryside: a hidden side of Istria
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In Piran, a coastal town in Slovenia, landscape architect Romana Kačič has spent four years leading free guided tours of the area behind the town, revealing its rural landscapes to visitors.
The tours are part of the “Ruralnost” project, organized by the Self-Governing Community of the Italian Nationality of Piran with support from the Piran Municipality, and aim to connect people with those preserving traditional farming and the cultural landscape of Slovenian Istria.
Kačič, who studied landscape architecture in Ljubljana and Venice, focuses on preserving natural and cultural heritage and emphasizes the importance of community involvement in spatial planning. These tours follow thematic paths that link cultural, natural, and architectural heritage, highlighting traditional routes, gardens, fields, vineyards, and olive groves. Participants travel by foot, bike, or other means, and the events include conversations with locals about their lives and food production.
Over the past four years, Kačič has led groups to meet over twenty local residents and visit places like Strunjan’s early kaki growers, olive groves, farms in Seča, and vineyards on the Mogoron hill. This year’s meetings have focused on viticulture, and the season will conclude on October 3 with the FONS festival at the Monfort salt warehouse in Portorož.