Labin - Podestà's Town Palace

In eastern Istria stands Labin, a town whose old centre occupies a hill. Its narrow streets connect houses and former public buildings that have played different roles through history.

Just beyond St. Florus Gate, the lanes of the walled centre meet at Stari trg, once an inner public square.

There stands the yellow façade of the Podestà's Town Palace, an administrative building distinct from the later municipal building on the large square.

The palace was built in 1555 as the seat of the podestà, a representative of the town authorities. It housed the administration and court, as well as a prison on the ground floor. Its historical role explains its position just inside the walled centre, at a junction of routes through the town.

The Renaissance building changed appearance over time. A trifora, a window with three openings, survives on the east side. A walk here therefore does not offer an untouched picture of one era: among colourful façades and the narrow paved street, former civic authority mingles with later layers of everyday town life.

Under Venetian rule, the podestà represented authority over Labin and Plomin. The palace was therefore an administrative centre for a wider area, not just one official's residence. The later construction of the municipal building beside today's main square shifted the centre of civic institutions, but the old palace's location still clearly marks the former entrance and administrative quarter.