Tartinijev trg (Tartini Square)

Tartinijev trg, or Tartini Square, is the main public space of Piran, a large oval open area just inland from the old harbour on Slovenia’s Adriatic coast, a few steps from the Adriatic Sea. It takes its name from Giuseppe Tartini, the violinist and composer born in Piran in 1692 and best known for the Devil's Trill sonata. His bronze statue stands in the middle of the square, a work by the Venetian sculptor Antonio Dal Zotto unveiled in 1896. The statue is the standard meeting point for the town, and almost every visitor ends up beside it at some point.

The square did not always exist. Until the end of the nineteenth century it was a small inner harbour, the Mandrač, where fishing boats and trading vessels were moored right beside Piran’s main buildings. It was filled in around 1894, and the open space that replaced it is the reason Piran has a proper town square at all, since the rest of the old centre is a tight maze of lanes squeezed onto a narrow peninsula. The curved line of the buildings on the western side still follows the old waterfront.

Surrounding the statue are buildings that reward a slow walk. The Town Hall faces the statue, and the best known house on the square is the Benečanka, the Venetian House, a Gothic-style building with a red facade and carved stone windows, said to date from the fifteenth century. A Venetian-language inscription on its facade, which translates roughly as "let them talk", is a favourite photo stop. Tartini's own birthplace, the Tartini House, also faces the square and now holds a small museum devoted to him. The Church of St. Peter stands a short way along the waterfront side. These Venetian touches are a reminder that Piran belonged to the Republic of Venice for centuries, which also explains why Italian appears next to Slovene on many signs.

Open to everyone at all hours, the square works as an outdoor living room in daily life. Locals cross it on the way to the market or the harbour, children play around the statue, and cafe terraces fill with people on warm evenings. Concerts, festivals and open-air events are held here through the year, and the setting suits them well because the surrounding facades make a natural backdrop.

Come early in the morning if you want to see the square nearly empty and the Venetian architecture in clean light, or at sunset when the stone turns warm. It is a good first stop before climbing towards the cathedral and the town walls, and from here it is a short stroll in any direction to the sea.