The old cemetery which is located in front of St. Vitus Church offers a panoramic view of inner Istria up to the Učka mountain range (1,402 m (4,600 ft)) in the east, as well as to the Julian Alps and the Dolomites in the north.

After centuries of armed conflicts, the war between the Roman Empire and Histri tribes (Istria is named after them) ended with the fall of Nesactium in 177 BC.

From then, Istria was subjected to Roman rule and was incorporated into the Tenth region of Italy), replaced with the Venetia et Histria province at the end of the 3rd century.

In the Early Middle Ages, various 'barbarian' tribes like the Avars and the Lombards invaded Istria but remained only for brief periods, except for the Slavs who moved in from Pannonia and settled mostly in the interior.

When his son and successor Emperor Otto II established the Duchy of Carinthia for Duke Henry the Younger in 976, he also gave him suzerainty over the southeastern Bavarian marches, including Verona, Istria, Carniola and Styria.

In the 11th century, the newly established March of Istria fell under the jurisdiction of the Church of Aquileia and several German feudal families like the Counts of Andechs, who ruled as Dukes of Merania.

From that time onwards, the coastal areas of Istria were gradually conquered by the Republic of Venice, advantaged by the lack of a central authority upon the deposition of Emperor Frederick II in 1246 and the fall of the House of Hohenstaufen.

Neverteheless the territories further inland around Pazin (German: Mitterburg) with Gračišće were retained by the Imperial Counts of Gorizia and in 1374 were inherited by the Austrian House of Habsburg.

With the Napoleonic rule upon the 1805 Peace of Pressburg, Istria became part of the re-established Italian Kingdom and in 1809 was incorporated into the so-called Illyrian Provinces of the French Empire.