Church of St Maurus

The parish church of Izola, perched on the highest point of the old town with a 32-metre slender free-standing bell tower modelled on the campanile of St Mark's in Venice. The current building dates from the eighteenth century; the bell tower is older (1585). Inside, the church holds several Venetian paintings — including a Carpaccio-school altarpiece — and the relics of St Maurus, the town's patron saint.

The climb up the bell tower (open in summer for a small fee) gives the best view of the old town, the harbour, and the coast across to Slovenia and Italy. The church itself is usually open in the morning and late afternoon; mass times are posted on the door.

things to do sight
A story
St Maurus, the patron saint of Izola, is the same Maurus who was bishop of Parentium (modern Poreč) in the third century — Izola's claim on him rests on a legend that his bones drifted ashore here in a stone sarcophagus after being lost at sea. The current church bell tower was built in 1585 and modelled on the campanile of St Mark's in Venice, an architectural debt the town is still happy to acknowledge.