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The Adriatic

The Adriatic Sea separates separates the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Dalmatian coast on its eastern shore is regarded as one of Europe’s most picturesque and beautiful coastlines where the historic cities of Dubrovnik and Split are two of Croatia’s most popular tourist destinations.

The Adriatic contains more than 1,300 islands, mostly located along the Croatian coast

The historic port city of Trieste is part of Italy is located on the north east coast of the Adriatic which up until the First World War was part of Austria. On the sea’s western sure is Venice and further south the cities of Ancona, which is in the Marche region and Bari and Brindisi in the Puglia region.

Beachfront, Puglia, Italy
Beachfront, Puglia, Italy

The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea. Other Countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Slovenia.

The earliest settlements on the Adriatic shores were Greek. By the 2nd century BC, the region was under Rome’s control. In the Middle Ages, the Adriatic shores and the sea itself were controlled by a series of states—most notably the Byzantine Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire.

Following Italian unification in the 19th century Italy started an eastward expansion. Following World War I and the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, the entire eastern coast’s control passed to Yugoslavia and Albania, except for Trieste.

The disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, resulted four new states on the Adriatic coast- Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.