ROVIGNO  , a seaport of

Austria, in Istria, 75 M . S. of Trieste by rail . Pop . (1900) 10,205, mostly Italian . It is situated on the west coast of Istria, and possesses an interesting cathedral, built on the summit of the promontory Monte di Sant' Eufemia . Its campanile, built after the model of the famous campanile in Venice, is crowned with a bronze statue of St Eufemia, the patron saint of the town, whose remains are preserved in the church . It contains a station of the Berlin Aquarium, with a fine collection of the fauna of the Adriatic Sea . In the neighbourhood are vineyards, which produce the best wine in Istria, and olive gardens, while its hazel-nuts are reputed the finest in the world . Rovigno is the principal centre of the Austrian tunny and sardine fishery . The industries, in addition to ship-building and the preservation of fish, include the manufacture of tobacco, cement, macaroni and similar preparations, and flour . There is an active export trade . Its inhabitants are renowned seamen .

Rovigno is the

ancient Arupenum or Rubinum, and according to tradition it was originally built on an island, Cissa by name, which disappeared during the earth-quakes about 737 . Rovigno passed definitively into the hands of the Venetians in 1330, and it remained true to the republic till the treaty of Campo Formio (1797) .