Description

This is one of the most typical of the little villages dotting the Triestine Carso and its name, “conto le vele” (“counting the sails”) reveals its origins as outpost overlooking the Gulf. Its structure still reveals something of its earlier nature of fortified village enclosed in a thick wall. A curious footnote to history is that at the end of the nineteenth century, the divers trained by the Austrian Navy used to come from the island of Krapanj near Šibenik (Croatia), and from Contovello, where many bold fishermen who had been drafted into the navy dedicated themselves to this new profession. The technology of the time enabled divers to reach a depth of 50 metres using a drysuit, helmet, rubber tube and pump on the surface.