Pićan - the town of legends

Pićan, Petina, Petinum, Pedena, Penna, Biben, Pyben, Piben, Piebn, Piebnn, Pitchann... What's in a name? Sometimes it is not easy to follow the traces of Pićan in historical sources due to its numerous names. The origin of the name Petina is sometimes attributed to the assumption that the Diocese of Pićan was the fifth in the world where the word pet (five) contains a Celtic root. Pićan was definitely settled in early prehistoric times. The oldest parts of the fortified hilltop town of the tribe of Histri were located on the Calvary Hill, north of the modern town. After that the town was probably settled by the Celtic tribe of the Secusa. In Roman times, probably on the same strategically important location, there was a military stronghold and the settlement Petina.

Some authors linked the town of Pićan to the name Pucinium, mentioned by Pliny and Ptolemy as the name of a fortification in central Istria, famous for its excellent wine even in the Roman Court. Livia, wife of the Emperor Augustus, believed that her longevity was attributed to the fact that she would drink only this wine. The only visible evidence of the Roman presence is the inscription on the stone incorporated in the doorpost of the house facing the bell tower. The inscription mentions a Lucius Caonalius of the family Pupinia that can be found in various other places in Istria (Kringa, Pula, Poreč, Koper, Trieste).
At the time of the Byzantine rule Pićan was the administrative centre of central Istria. From the Late Antiquity to the end of the 18^th century, Pićan was the seat of the Diocese of Pićan, one of the oldest, but also smallest in the Christian world.

The legend of St. Nicephorus

Many legends, sometimes excluding each other and often intertwined, are linked to the emergence of the Diocese of Pićan and its patron, Saint Nicephorus. Orientation is made even more difficult by the fact that Pićan is, in fact, linked to two Nicesphoruses – Saint Nicephorus the Martyr and Saint Nicephorus the Bishop.

The legend of Saint Nicephorus the Martyr says that the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (who proclaimed Christian toleration, promoted Christianity and built a new capital of the Empire – Constantinople) had the body remains of Saint Nicephorus of Antioch put on a ship in Constantinople. He ordered that a church had to be devoted to this Saint on the spot where the ship stopped of its own volition. According to a longer version, the Saint's body, after landing on the shores of Istria, was mounted on a horse which was left free and which stopped – in Pićan.

The second legend - The legend of Saint Nicephorus Bishop and the Thorndancers - tells of Saint Nicephorus, the Bishop of Pićan (in some versions he was the first Bishop of Pićan and the founder of the Diocese). The inhabitants of Pićan complained to the Patriarch of Aquileia of his alleged immoral life, namely for living with his nephew. In order to clear his name of the charges and prove his mission, Nicephorus offered to open a source of potable water by striking the barren and thorny acacia grown ground with a stick. The residents of Pićan declined that, saying that the acacia was more important as it is later used in the vineyard. He replied by saying May you walk on thorns. The residents of Pićan are still called Thorndancers. Instead of Pićan, Nicephorus, on his way to the patriarch in Aquileia, created springs in Gračišće, Krbune, Buzet, Trieste, and elsewhere. Upon reaching the patriarch, he had nowhere to hang his cloak, so he stuck it to the sunbeam that peeked into the room, which was enough to absolve him of all charges. On his return, Nicephorus died, and his remains were kept in Umag until 1379 when they were taken by the Genoese. However, at the saint's request, his right hand was sent to Pićan as a sign of forgiveness, and it is still kept in the parish church in Pićan - the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

From Aquileia to Napoleon

In the Middle Ages, not only the ecclesiastical, but also the secular rule in Pićan was in the hands of the Patriarchs of Aquileia. Following that period, Pićan was included to the Pazin hold administered by Majnard Črnogradski (Meinhard von Schwarzenburg). While the coastal Istrian towns accepted Venetian rule one by one, Pićan, together with Pazin, had a completely different destiny. At the end of the 17^th century, by the marriage of Meinhard's heiress, Countess Matilda of Pazin, to the Count Engelbert of Gorizia, Pićan was made part of their Grafschaft Ysterreich. This, in turn, became a private possession of the Habsburg family in 1374 under the name of the Pazin County.

In order to get the money necessary to finance their rise on the throne, the Habsburgs prefer to give the entire County in short-term leases to various noblemen. The possession was managed in their name by Captains. The half centennial destiny of the division of Istria into the Austrian and Venetian part, marked by often brutal conflicts of the two quarrelsome neighbours, incursions of the Turks and outbreaks of plague, ended only with the fall of Venice and the arrival of Napoleon.

A walk around Pićan

In the park in front of the entrance to Pićan stands a statue of St. John Nepomucene, a Czech saint, protector of queens, bridges, secrets of confession, and protector against floods, built in 1714. Outside the walls, near the cemetery, you will find the church of St. Michael, known for its wall frescoes from the first half of the 15th century. Pićan probably once had a movable bridge at the entrance to the town. Nearby is a monument to the Pićan residents who perished in World War II, and on slightly lower ground next to the park is the church of St. Roch, the patron saint against the plague, whose cornerstone was laid by Bishop Gašpar Bobek (1631-1634) during one of the largest plague epidemics. When entering the old part of Pićan, we pass through the monumental city gate dating back to the 14th century, renovated in 1613 for Bishop Antonio Zara (1601-1621). Owing to his close connections with the Archduke Ferdinand, from a simple cleric Zara became the Bishop of Pićan at the age of 27. At Pićan he wrote his masterpiece, a kind of an encyclopaedia of philosophy entitled Anatomia ingeniorum et scientiarum sectionibus quattuor comprehensa, printed in Venice in 1615. He will be remembered as the first Italian thinker who separated from the Scholasticism. Zara renovated the Bishop's Palace (2) , and started the construction of a new Cathedral. Unfortunately, in 1653 both the Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace were devastated in the largest revolts of peasants in Istria. Oppressed by new levies introduced to cover the debts of the County to Carniola and especially because of the extreme severity of the representative of the Carniolan Administration, Hanibal Bottoni, about three thousand people from all around the County gathered on 6 July at Gračišće and marched towards Pićan led by Mate Bolka. They destroyed the Town Gate, broke in the Cathedral, Bishop's Palace and the houses of the clergymen, and sentenced Bottoni and his chancellor on the spot.

The Franz Ferdinand's Viewpoint – the view from this point over the undulating landscape of central Istria, just as the special taste of Pićan's wine offered to him by the parochial priest, convinced the Austrian Royal Prince Franz Ferdinand to visit Pićan again, but this time in the company of his wife Sophie, a passionate painter, who would record the sight. Unfortunately, this wish was never realised as they were both assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914, shortly after his visit.

Opposite the parish church is the birthplace of Matko Brajša Rašan (6), a choirmaster, recorder of Istrian folk songs, and composer, who in 1912 composed the current official Istrian anthem Krasna zemljo, with lyrics by Ivan Cukon. It is less known that another important musical figure is associated with Pićan. This is the Slovenian Jurij Slatkonja, the founder and conductor of the Vienna Court Orchestra and later the first bishop of Vienna, who is mentioned in Pićan from 1506 as the administrator of the bishopric and from 1513 as the bishop.

From the square in front of the church, we can continue west along the building where the People's Reading Room operated from 1914 to 1918. Through a small passage, we can exit to the right into the gardens to see the best-preserved part of the city walls. At the other end of Pićan, we recommend visiting the viewpoint of St. Helena named after the church of the same name that once stood there. In that part of the settlement, there are still abandoned old houses with interesting architecture, with rustic lintels and staircases sometimes carved into the living rock, just waiting to be given new life.

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