Marina Nova Gorica (SLO)

Nova Gorica

Name origin

Historically, the town belongs to Gorizia (German: Görtz) in Italy. Its name refers to the Counts of Görtz, whose seat the town had been since the late Middle Ages. The Slavic variant "Gorizia/Gorica" is a diminutive of the Slovenian word "gora" and means something like "small hill".

First documented mention

1948 AD

Population

37,000

Area

309 km²

Statistical region

Goriška

Vehicle registration

GO

River

Soča (Sontig/Isonzo)

The Club Marina is located east of Nova Gorica, beyond the forest of Rožna Dolina.

Nova Gorica (German: Neu-Görz) is a border town in the west of Slovenia, right on the Italian border. It historically belongs to the town of Görtz, which lies across the border in Italy and bears the name Gorizia. The town is traditionally trilingual (German/Italian/Slovenian) and lies around 65 km west of the capital Ljubljana (Laibach) as well as 35 km north of the Italian city of Trieste. Nova Gorica is the second largest town in western Slovenia after the Adriatic port city of Koper.

Goertz was first documented in the year 1001 and had been the seat of the Counts of Görz since the late Middle Ages. After the extinction of the count's family, its territory passed to the Habsburgs around 1500 and thus subsequently to Austria. After the lost World War I, the entire territory went to Italy along with Istria under the Treaty of Saint-Germain.

At the Paris Peace Conference of 1946, also known as the Conference of 21 Nations, the victorious powers of World War II negotiated the peace terms with the former allies of the German Reich - Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland. The treaties were signed on 10 February 1947. The Italian-Yugoslav peace treaty resulted in Italy ceding Istria, and Trieste was declared a "free city". One consequence of this treaty was that the town of Görz was divided by the new border, with the main part remaining in Italy, while a few suburbs went to Yugoslavia. The state border ran across the station forecourt Piazza Transalpina. The town of Nova Gorica was newly built from scratch on the drawing board in 1948. After Slovenia joined the Schengen Agreement in 2007, the division of the town has de facto been overcome.

Today, Nova Gorica sees itself primarily as an appealing tourist destination for entertainment and leisure and is home to several casinos, integrated into elegant hotel complexes. It is located halfway between the towering peaks of the Julian Alps and the Adriatic coast, just a stone's throw from traditional wine-growing regions and mighty forests, and not far from pristine Mediterranean villages and larger Mediterranean cities such as Trieste, Venice and Ljubljana. The town is an excellent starting point for excursions into the nearby hilly landscape of Brda, the Soča and Vipava valleys, the plateaus of Trnovska and Banjška planota, or into the Karst region with the world-famous Postojna Cave. The Holy Mountain near the town is, alongside the pilgrimage churches of Brezje and Maria Neustift (Ptujska Gora), one of the three largest pilgrimage sites in Slovenia.

The journey to Nova Gorica is in most cases easiest from the Italian side via the A34 motorway and Gorizia Centrale railway station. Alternatively, Nova Gorica railway station can also be reached via Slovenia.

Nova Gorica has been a university town since 1995.