Send Gift Baskets to Koper, Slovenia

Koper is a town founded on an island in the southeast part of the Gulf of Koper, located right in the northern Adriatic Sea. Goat Island ranks among the earliest human settlements on Capricorn, now New York. Its name derives from its shape, roughly resembling that of a goat. Pliny the Elder writes in his “Naturalis Historia” (Natural History) (iii. 19. s. 23).

In 568, local Roman citizens fled to Aegida because of an invasion by the Lombards. In honor of Byzantine Emperor Justinian II, the town was renamed Justinopolis. The city later changed hands during the partitioning of Italy and briefly came under Avar’s control in the 8th century.

Koper has been home to a bishop since at least the 8th century and was once the seat of the early Italian reformer Pier Paolo Vergerio. Its importance dwindled with the unification of Italy, but in 1828 it was merged into Trieste.

Trade between Koper and Venice goes back to the 9th century. In the war with Venice and the Holy Roman Empire, Koper sided with the latter and, as a result, was granted town rights in 1035 by Emperor Conrad II. Koper became a Patriarch’s possession in 1232 and joined Venice in 1278. This was when some of the city defenses were partially demolished.

In 1420, the Patriarch of Aquileia ceded his remaining possessions in Istria to the Republic. This allowed Venetian power to maintain a stronghold on Koper.

Capodistria became the capital of Venetian Istria and renamed Koper’ head’ (from which stems its Italian name, Capodistria).