Vrtojba

Vrtojba (pronounced [ʋəɾˈtoːi̯ba]; Italian: Vertoiba) is a settlement in the Municipality of Šempeter-Vrtojba in the Slovene Littoral region of Slovenia.

On the Italian side of the border, opposite Vrtojba, is the suburb of San Andrea (Slovene: Štandrež), now part of the town of Gorizia (Slovene: Gorica).

Vrtojba was first mentioned in the early 13th century as Toyfa, Toyua, or Tojva in a list of properties belonging to the Counts of Gorizia.

The population increased in the 16th and 17th centuries with settlers from areas further south affected by Ottoman raids moving to the fertile countryside around Gorizia.

Although this fame still continues to some extent today, industrialization of Nova Gorica after the Second World War meant workers also settled in the village and the urban expansion in recent decades has virtually turned Vrtojba into the southern suburbs of Nova Gorica.