Split

Split began as Aspálathos, a Greek colony of Issa — today's Vis — founded in the 3rd or 2nd century BC to trade with the Illyrian Delmatae. Nearby Salona became the capital of the Roman province of Dalmatia, and from 293 the emperor Diocletian, a native of the area, built a fortified seaside palace at Aspálathos, to which he retired in 305. When Avars sacked Salona in 639, survivors took refuge on the islands and, around 650, settled inside the palace walls; the mausoleum became a cathedral, and the city of Spalatum was born.

For centuries Split passed between Byzantium, Hungary and Venice, which held it from 1420 to 1797. It became a trading port on the routes inland through the Klis pass, and its poet Marko Marulić wrote Judita (1501), regarded as the first modern work of Croatian literature. Austria took it in 1797; after a French interlude from 1806 that laid out the Riva, Austrian rule returned in 1815 and the city stagnated.

After 1918 Split became Yugoslavia's most important port. Italy annexed it in 1941, and it became a centre of resistance; Hajduk Split joined the Partisans. Under socialist Yugoslavia the population tripled as factories, shipyards and the headquarters of the Yugoslav Navy arrived. In 1991 Croatia declared independence and, after months of tension, the Yugoslav army left its bases in the city in January 1992. Recession followed, but since the 2000s tourism, the motorway to Zagreb, completed in 2005, and new building have driven a recovery.

Split prides itself on continuity — its historic core, on the UNESCO list since 1979, has been lived in since late antiquity. Marulić gave it a literary tradition, and in modern times Miljenko Smoje's television series Malo misto and Velo misto captured its humour and its changes. Music runs deep: the city has produced composers such as Franz von Suppé and Jakov Gotovac, singers like Oliver Dragojević and Severina, and a strong hip hop scene, while klapa, the unaccompanied harmony singing added to UNESCO's list in 2012, is heard in the palace's Vestibule. The Split Festival of pop music has run since 1960, and the Split Summer Festival stages theatre and opera in the Peristyle.

Residents call Split the sportiest city in the world. Hajduk, founded in 1911, is followed with devotion, and its supporters' group Torcida, founded in 1950, is the oldest in Europe. KK Split won the EuroLeague three years running from 1989 to 1991; the city has produced Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanišević, high jumper Blanka Vlašić and generations of water polo players. Picigin, a game played in shallow water at Bačvice since 1908, is the local pastime.

The old city families, the Fetivi, are proud of their Čakavian speech; islanders and, above all, newcomers from the hinterland have reshaped the city since the war, and the jokes between them are part of local life. The feast of St Domnius, Sveti Duje, the patron saint, falls on 7 May, the day the city presents its annual awards.

The city had about 160,500 residents in 2021, and some 310,000 people live in the metropolitan area, which takes in Kaštela, Solin, Trogir, Omiš and Sinj. Croats make up about 96 per cent of the population. The University of Split, founded in 1974, has around 18,000 students on the country's largest campus. Many people live in the high-rise suburbs that spread east across the peninsula in the Yugoslav era.

The economy has never fully recovered the industrial base of the Yugoslav years, when Split's output per head was well above the national average. Brodosplit, the largest shipyard in Croatia, still employs around 2,300 people, and fishing, olive oil, wine, paper and chemicals survive, but trade and tourism now dominate. The city recorded about 965,000 tourist visits in 2023, the port handles around five million passengers a year, and the Croatia Boat Show has been held here since 1998.

The day is shaped by the waterfront: a long coffee on the Riva, a trip to the green market and the fish market, a swim at Bačvice or below Marjan, and the evening stroll. More than half the city's residents use the buses, mostly to reach the centre.

Pašticada, a Dalmatian dish of beef braised in a sweet and sour sauce with prunes and wine, is usually served with gnocchi or home-made pasta. Soparnik, a thin pie of Swiss chard and onion between two sheets of dough, is the best-known speciality of Poljica, between Split and Omiš, and is traditionally baked under embers. Grilled fish with blitva, Swiss chard, alongside is a staple of the coast, and brudet is a fish stew usually served with polenta or toasted bread. Black risotto, coloured with cuttlefish ink, is on many menus.

Two markets feed the city: Pazar, the green market, and Ribarnica, the fish market. Pršut, Dalmatian smoked ham, and Pag's sheep's milk cheese are common starters.

Wine comes from the islands and hinterland. Plavac Mali is the primary red grape of the Dalmatian coast, and researchers traced its parent, Crljenak — the Zinfandel of California — to a vineyard at nearby Kaštela in 2001. Prošek is the sweet dessert wine of southern Dalmatia, travarica the herb brandy, and bevanda, wine cut with still water, is the everyday drink.