Novalja (pronounced [nǒʋaʎa]) is a town on the north of the island of Pag in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea.

[citation needed] Novalja is the successor of a Roman city called Cissa, which many scholars consider to be the seat of an ancient Christian bishopric of that name.

A bishop of Cissa named Vindemius took part in some year between 571 and 577 in a schismatic synod in Grado called by Patriarch Elias of Aquileia.

Arrested by the Exarch of Ravenna, he was forced to abjure his views on the controversy of the Three Chapters, but once free from Byzantine Empire control, he reaffirmed his position and took part in another schismatic synod in 590.

From the 12th to 14th centuries, Novalja, along with other Dalmatian towns and islands, was fiercely contested between the Republic of Venice and the Croatian-Hungarian rulers.