page_title: Parenzana
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Parenzana / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Parenzana and Sečovlje salt fields.
context_page_description: The Parenzana in Italian and Croatian or Porečanka in Slovene is one of the nicknames of a defunct narrow-gauge railway between Trieste and Poreč, in present-day Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.
context_section_description: When laws of Austria-Hungary allowed constructing local narrow gauge railways, the first economical analyses of a west Istrian railway were prepared around 1880. In 1888 a Berlin based company Sanderop & comp, led by Peter Walderstein started to prepare project plan of the route. A Trieste based company of Luigi Buzzi did the same independently of Sanderop & comp. In 1898 a construction permit was obtained and in 1900 the TPC company was founded in Vienna, its chief was Ludovico Rizzi, then a governor of Austrian Littoral. The construction started the same year. Several contractors were assigned the construction works. The section between Trieste and Portorož was constructed by Butoraz and Zifer, both from Trieste, the section between Portorož and Buje was built by Filip Zupančič's company from Ljubljana, the section between Buje and Vižinada was assigned to Brunetti, List and Radl, all from Graz, and the section between Vižinada and Poreč was constructed by Pellegrini and Strohmeier, both from Vienna as well. On 1 April 1902 the first section between Trieste and Buje was opened.  The other section between Buje and Poreč was opened on 15 December 1902. Initial plans included an extension to Kanfanar, then a rail junction of standard gauge rail lines from Divača, Pula and Rovinj (the section between Kanfanar and Rovinj is now defunct) but it was never built due to lack of funds and later due to upcoming World War I.
  The railroad brought an economic progress to towns along its route. It was mainly used to transport agricultural products (with fish and salt) to the Trieste market. Products of Piran's chemical industry and dimension stones from quarries in Grožnjan, Momjan, Kanegra, etc. were transported as well. During the World War I the railway was used to transport military and food supply for the local population.
  After the war and the independence of most parts of Austria-Hungary, the whole of Istria became part of the Kingdom of Italy. The railway was taken over by Italians, its headquarters were moved from Vienna to Pula, locomotives and personnel were brought from other parts of Italy. For about a decade the railway was still profitable, then the Great Depression arose and the railway could no longer compete with developing maritime, bus and automobile transport. The fascist regime found an excellent opportunity to further persecution of Slovene and Croatian population, forming majority of Istrian hinterland population. From Rome the order to abandon the railroad arrived and the last train was operated on August 31, 1935. This deteriorated the economic situation and forced many people to emigrate. The rolling stock was sold to other Italian railways, mainly to Sicily, and a legend tells that tracks were dismounted to be transported to Abyssinia, then an Italian colony, but never reached Africa as the ship sunk somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea.
  During the operation of railway several minor accidents occurred. Some were a consequence of a human factor while others resulted from a fact that planners from interior of the Austria-Hungary did not know the local microclimate well. Especially around Milje  gusts of bora caused several derailments. The most tragic occurred on 31 March 1910 when three people were killed and many wounded. Another derailment near Muggia (Milje)  happened in 1916, but no victims are reported. In 1917 Russian prisoners of war deliberately caused a derailment. An engineer and a fireman were killed.
  The most tragic event in the railway's history occurred on 19 March 1921 at 18:20. A group of fascists was traveling to Trieste. During the stop in Strunjan they shot from the train at a group of children playing near the track. 2 children were killed, 2 maimed and 3 wounded. In memory of this event Božidar Tvrdy later composed a poem Za Šentjanom je utonilo sonce (the Sun drowned at Šentjan, full text in Slovenian).
  After the World War II several ideas arose to reconstruct the railroad at least partially for the purpose of tourism, however this never happened. The last such initiative came from the C
caption: The Porečanka and the Sečovlje saltworks
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