Rijeka. A disputed city, at the center of twentieth-century European history.

Through a simple and engaging audio narration, we retrace the key moments: the Empire, the war, the enterprise, the exodus.
A story to listen to in order to understand, remember and not forget.

Edited by Massimiliano Grohovaz.

🎙️ Episode 1 – The medieval origins of Rijeka

From the year 1000 to Habsburg rule: a city between empires, bishops and legends.

🎙️ Episode 2 – River between empires and autonomies (1500–1800)

Wars, statutes, epidemics and economic development: two centuries of transformations for a disputed city.

🎙️ Episode 3 – A River of Revolutions, Occupations and Development (1800–1870)

From the Napoleonic Empire to the Dual Monarchy: between political instability and civil growth, Rijeka seeks its place in Europe.

🎙️ Episode 4 – River between progress and tensions (1869–1914)

An era of extraordinary growth between ports, industries and culture. But in the background, nationalisms that will lead to conflict emerge.

🎙️ Episode 5 – River in the Great War (1914–1919)

Between military ports, proclamations of annexation and diplomatic negotiations, Rijeka became a crucial node in the new European order.

🎙️ Episode 6 – The Rijeka Enterprise and the Birth of the Free State (1919–1920)

Between myth, occupation and Constitution: D'Annunzio leads a unique revolution in Italian and Rijeka history.

🎙️ Episode 7 – From the Free State to Annexation: Fiume between Crisis and Regime (1920–1939)

Autonomy suffocated, annexation to Italy, racial laws and cultural resistance: Fiume enters the orbit of fascism.

🎙️ Episode 8 – War, Chaos and Violence: River 1940–1943

From Italy's entry into the conflict to the German occupation: a territory disputed between partisans, repression and tragedies.

🎙️ Episode 9 – River under the bombs and the shadow of the foibe (1943–1945)

Between Nazi occupation, deportations, Resistance and Yugoslav liberation: the darkest years in the history of the city.

🎙️ Episode 10 – Political repression in Rijeka (1944–1947)

Arrests, informants, show trials and religious persecutions: the dark face of the post-war period under the Yugoslav regime.

🎙️ Episode 11 – The Exodus and the Erasure of Italian Identity

After the Second World War, Fiume lost its Italian soul. A mass exodus, the rewriting of memory, the difficult reintegration of exiles into the new Italy.

🎙️ Episode 12 – Rijeka, a thousand years of history (1000–1950)

In this final episode, we retrace the main historical events that have marked Rijeka: from the medieval origins to the exodus of Italians in the post-war period. A journey full of identities, conflicts and transformations.

"Rijeka, the city of great changes", how to tell it to those who visit it for the first time. Let's try by playing the role of the occasional traveler, sometimes distracted, to whom key indications must be given, short, concise but able to leave a mark and, above all, to ignite curiosity. The important thing is that he then wants to deepen, through books on Rijeka, which tell its history, literature and much more.

Let's start: seen from the shores, the resemblance to Trieste is striking: the same imposing buildings of the insurance companies of the golden age of trade, the free port, the control of maritime traffic, the first large hotel.

I still think back to the words of a family friend: "Rijeka has had the misfortune of foreign lordships who did not bother to embellish it as the Serenissima did with the towns of Istria and Dalmatia. It was often reborn from its ashes and the new buildings mercilessly swept away the signs of the past".

Of course it is very different from the gracefulness of the Istrian towns, but there is a strong message that radiates from this city, it will be good to go and find out what it is.

I want to start from the Civic Tower, which I have seen many times on postcards sent by friends to my parents, it is a fixed point, a concrete reference, the navel of the city.

It is the most important monument, testimony of the medieval river which, surrounded by walls, had its clock tower on the seashore. The entire stretch of mainland of the port was built later to make room for the docks, the great traffic, the wealth of a society in turmoil. The Tower has been incorporated into the expanding city, without ever losing its centrality and importance.

Destroyed by the earthquake, the tower was restored thanks to the contribution of Empress Maria Theresa: here is a key name I will have to resort to in order to understand this city and its economic development. With the means donated by the sovereign, the new clock was also purchased and continued to beat until its replacement in 1873, when the people of Rijeka decided to replace it with a new one purchased at the World Exhibition in Vienna.

Only the lower part of the tower is ancient, adorned with stone busts of the emperors Leopold I and Charles VI. Above the busts, the coat of arms of Rijeka, donated to the city in 1659. On the top was hoisted in 1906 the double-headed iron eagle from which a head was later cut off.