Romancing the Stone

Why I'm fascinated with rural ruins and Istrian villages

After treating ourselves to massages—and the pool—at Hotel Kaštel, my husband and I decided to explore more on our way home from Motovun last weekend.

“You know,” I said. “There should be a word for what we’re doing when we’re doing this.” “This” is driving down a random side road to check out one of the villages we haven’t seen yet. Villexploring? Roxspeditioning? The word will come.

The villages here are nothing like the cookie-cutter subdivisions I’m used to in America. Neither are the narrow, winding one-lane roads. If you happen to be going up while someone else is coming down, one of you has to figure out where to pull over. Even if that means backing up.

Sometimes, a village road runs right between two stone houses so close together that you could pick a flower from a pot—or maybe a shirt left drying on a railing—as you pass through. The village cats simply stare as you zip on by.

Each house appears in different stages of dress. Some have been done up, their shutters freshly painted and the stone restored or plastered over in bright colors. Others have been left to crumble—a low stone wall the only reminder of the home’s size and shape.

If you see a house frame of red brick with cement mixers and piles of stone nearby, it likely belongs to a foreigner building a holiday home or tourist rental. I’ve been told if a red brick frame never gets plastered or covered with stone, the owner probably ran out of money.

You may even find a completely deserted village. It’s hard to know whether the property is being watched over by the family’s descendants or has been forgotten by members of the diaspora. 

What exactly is a traditional Istrian stone house?

Like Istria’s soil, which can be red, grey, white, or black depending on where you are, the stone used to cover houses varies in color by region. Because the Venetians ruled the area for hundreds of years, the houses have much the same feel as some Italian houses you may see being restored on HGTV. An Italian house, in fact, was my husband’s inspiration for our house here in Istria.

Colorful shutters typically frame the windows and doors. Red clay tiles called kanalice stack to form a roof around a narrow chimney. Inside, on the top floor, there’s more terracotta visible on the ceiling—interior tiles called tavelice sit side by side between the high-pitched roof’s supporting wood beams.

The interior walls are typically made of the same rough stone as the exterior, with some plaster here or there. Large open hearths are traditional, as are summer kitchens—outdoor fireplaces for grilling meat and seafood. 

Building our new old stone house

These days, it’s faster and cheaper to cover a house in plaster instead of using stone. The new builds we’ve seen lately are all bright white plaster and clean lines, giving them a modern Mediterranean vibe. If you’re going the restoration route or want to rebuild in the traditional style like we did, finding a stonemason isn’t easy. We were lucky my husband spotted Tomo working on a house as we were driving by. He spent six months hand-chiseling and placing the stone—a mixture of new and salvaged stone from the original home—on the exterior.

I didn’t feel great about knocking down a home that has been standing here since the 1700s and rebuilding one in its place. But we ultimately decided to do so for two reasons: it was (surprisingly) much cheaper and we could move the house from its spot practically on the road. 

We decided to rebuild in the traditional Istrian style so the new home blends with its surroundings and honors its past. We’re hoping it feels as if someone came back to Istria to redo their great-grandfather’s homestead. We also tried to reuse as much of the original materials as we could, especially the stones.

A friend of ours—a fellow home builder—in the next village summed up what it’s like building a house in Istria perfectly. 

“I pay someone 100 Euros to move rocks down the hill. And then, I pay someone 100 Euros to move rocks back up the hill.”

Along the hilly terrain, you have to store your stones somewhere. The same goes when you’re making walls to support the terraced landscape, adding perimeter walls around your property, or, covering the summer kitchen.

An update on our house build

You’re probably wondering why I haven’t shared more pictures of our house. For one thing, even though we are living in it, it’s still a bit of a construction zone. It needs interior doors, paint, light fixtures, furniture, and a bunch of little things we need various workers to come back and finish. 

We are making good progress but some days, I just want it all to be done. Keeping an unfinished house clean while living in it is like shoveling the driveway during a blizzard. I’m learning that building a house is a life lesson in being present and remaining flexible.

I also don’t want this blog to morph into a follow-along journey where I have to post before and after videos. Or worse, post a get-ready-with-me video explaining the latest update.

I just want to capture all of my big feelings and the fascinating uniqueness here in this wonderful part of the world.