Cerovlje is the central place of a large municipality spreading over the undulating landscape northeast of Pazin and comprising numerous hamlets and villages: Draguć, Grimalda, Gologorica, Paz, Borut, Pazinski Novaki... Such natural features brought to it plentiful particularities throughout history and continuing until the present time.

Inaccessibility and isolation were the reasons for the very poor or non-existent influence of Rome to this remote piece of its province. Pathless ravines in the east, fortified by carefully arranged forts (Gradina, Paz, Šabec, later Belaj, Posrt) in the Middle Ages created an unassailable frontier used by the Istrian Margrave to expand his dominion which was further defended by the forts of Boljun, Lupoglav, Roč, Črni grad and Beli grad in the north and Letaj, Barban, Rakalj and Sutivanac in the south. The slow arrival of modern changes to the secluded villages, which were only recently upgraded with good roads, led to the depopulation and complete abandonment of some villages. On the other hand, it also influenced the preservation of many ethnologic particularities and the way of living, which have already been made history in other parts of Istria.

If you are searching for the true rural Istria – you are in the right place.