Hvar

An Illyrian hill-fort stood on the site of today's fortress, trading over long distances from the 8th century BC, and the Greeks founded Faros, today's Stari Grad, on the north coast in 384 BC. After Roman villas and the arrival of Slavs, pirate raids drove the islanders inland. In 1278 they asked Venice for protection, and the southern harbour of Hvar was fortified as a base for the Venetian fleet; it took the name Lesina and became the seat of the island's commune, its prince and a new diocese, while the old Greek town became Cittavecchia, Stari Grad.

Under Venice, which held the town from 1278 to 1358 and from 1420 to 1797, Hvar prospered as a naval and trading port. Walls, the Arsenal, the loggia and noble houses rose, and in the 15th century the town spread onto the hill south of the square. The 16th century brought conflict between nobles and commoners — the Church of the Annunciation served as the rebels' headquarters in the revolt of 1510 — and Ottoman attacks: in 1571 the Turkish fleet sacked the town on its way to Lepanto, and in 1579 lightning detonated the fortress's powder magazine. Much of today's town dates from the rebuilding that followed.

The Venetian navy moved to Kotor in 1776 and the town declined. After a French interlude, in which a second fortress was built in 1811, a British raid captured Hvar in 1813 and Austria took over. In 1868 the Hygienic Society was founded to look after visitors, starting the tourism that now defines the town.

Along with Dubrovnik, Hvar was a centre of early Croatian literature. Hanibal Lucić, who wrote Robinja, the first Croatian drama, in the early 16th century, and Petar Hektorović lived and worked here, and Martin Benetović's comedies followed. The theatre on the first floor of the Arsenal opened in 1612, one of the oldest in Europe; a lively theatre tradition lasted into the 19th century, above all at carnival, with masked balls called cavalchins. The Hvar Summer Festival continues it with concerts from late June to late September.

The island's traditions are on UNESCO's intangible heritage list. On the night of Maundy Thursday the Za križen procession sets out from six villages of the island, each walking about 25 kilometres through the night, and the Benedictine nuns of Hvar town make lace from the threads of agave leaves. Lavender is grown for aromatic oils, and Hvar is often called the island of lavender.

Hvar town is a protected cultural heritage area. Its reputation in summer is for yachts and nightlife — it has street cafés, night clubs and parties linked to the Ultra Europe festival.

The town had about 3,800 residents at the 2011 census, and the wider municipality, which takes in Brusje, Milna, Sveta Nedilja and other villages, about 4,250. It is the largest settlement on the island. The surrounding land is steep karst, with scarce ground water, and the small farms that survive grow olives, grapes, lavender and rosemary.

The town is above all a port. Its harbour, sheltered by the Pakleni islands, is one of the main centres of nautical tourism on the southern Adriatic, filled in summer with charter yachts and luxury cruisers. The tourist season runs from early April to mid-October, when catamarans connect the town daily with Split, Brač, Korčula, Vis and Šolta; visitors far outnumber residents at the height of summer, and in winter many places close and the town returns to a small community.

Daily life follows that cycle: in summer, early swims, a crowded Pjaca and late nights; in winter, coffee on a quiet square, and the marina's New Year regatta. The tunnel road built in 2000 has made Stari Grad and its ferry port, once hours away over the mountain, a short drive.

Hvar's own dish is gregada, one of the oldest ways of preparing fish in Dalmatia, a fish stew made with potatoes, onion and olive oil. Grilled fish is the everyday meal of the coast, chard, blitva, is one of the commonest ingredients of Dalmatian cooking, and brudet, a stew of several kinds of fish, is eaten with polenta.

The island is serious wine country. Bogdanuša, a white grape that originated on the Stari Grad Plain, makes dry wines of green-yellow to golden colour, and Plavac Mali makes the red wines for which the vineyards on the island's southern side are famous. The Stari Grad Plain has grown grapes and olives in the same Greek-laid fields for 24 centuries.

Prošek, the sweet dessert wine, travarica, the herb brandy, and bevanda, wine cut with still water, are the island's drinks, and lavender, sold in bunches and as oil, is the island's best-known product.