Original Scientific Article
Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside:
An Electronic Media Perspective
Metod Šuligoj
University of Primorska, Faculty of Tourism Studies – Turistica, Slovenia
metod.suligoj@fts.upr.si
This pilot research illuminates the connection and reflection of past traumatic events
in contemporary dark events. The purpose of the research is to provide a basic un-
derstanding of what dark events and dark tourism mean in a specific regional en-
vironment – the countryside of the trans-border region of Istria. Consequently, the
media-constructed social reality related to dark events was identified with the help
of a quantitative content analysis; cross tabulation and descriptive analyses were em-
ployed to resolve three research questions. It was found that wwii-relatedmemorial
services dominate in all areas of the Istrian countryside; dark events, according to
media,mostly occurred atmemorials or internment sites;most of themwere in small
Istrian towns. Flower ceremonies and cultural programmes are essential elements of
Istrian dark events in all areas. However, there is no statistically significant associa-
tion between event type and different rural areas. Consequently, we are now (at least
basically) familiar with current Istrian dark events, which offer an ideal basis for the
development of dark tourism in the most developed tourist region of Slovenia and
Croatia.
Keywords: dark events, dark tourism, thematic tourism, Istrian history,
countryside, media
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.12.121-132
Introduction
Contemporary tourists seek tailored tourist experi-
ences with different immaterial qualities as a reaction
to post-modern urban life (Robinson & Novelli, 2005;
Šuligoj, 2018, p. 19; Trauer, 2006; Wong & Cheung,
1999). Consumers as tourists can thus encounter dif-
ferentiated thematic tourism products as a reaction
to tourist demand or as products which, in contrast,
create demand (Douglas, Douglas, & Derrett, 2001;
Kruja&Gjyrezi, 2011; Štetić, Šimičević, &Ćurčić, 2013;
Trauer, 2006) and, consequently, 365-day tourism des-
tinations.
It is worth mentioning that many terms are used
in thematic tourism theory: ‘niche tourism’ (Robinson
& Novelli, 2005), ‘selective forms of tourism’ (Štetić et
al., 2013) or ‘special interest tourism’ (Douglas et al.,
2001). ‘Special interest tourism,’ as the predecessor of
‘niche tourism,’ which was conceptualised during the
1980s (Hall & Weiler, 1992) and is the complete oppo-
site of mass tourism (Douglas et al., 2001, p. 2; Hall &
Weiler, 1992) accelerated in the second half of the 20th
century. It as part of the interdisciplinary system of the
21st century, which encompasses all elements of supply
and demand in the broadest sense, including ‘politi-
cal, economical, ecological, technological, and socio-
economical and socio-cultural concerns, from the lo-
cal to the global level’ (Trauer, 2006, p. 185).
Consequently, ‘special interest tourism’ can be re-
lated to the so-called homo turisticus, who is seeking
experiential dimensions based on numerous possi-
bilities of tourist services (Šuran, 2016, p. 69) and is
aimed at increasing consumption. Tourists, among
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019 | 121
Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
other things, also look for interesting/exciting memo-
rial sites with an (extreme) traumatic background that
shapes contemporary societies only in a certain geo-
graphical area or wider on the international level, e.g.,
sites related to the Holocaust or other genocides and
criminal acts. Interestingly, tourists, however, do not
necessarily understand such sites or events (Kennell,
Šuligoj, & Lesjak, 2018, p. 948). This is even more im-
portant if we consider the fact that visiting such sites
is not necessarily understood, even among local res-
idents as part of tourism, which Šuligoj (2016; 2017)
found in his investigation among young residents in
Croatia. However, many dark events and dark tourism
sites were and still are interesting for the media. The
media construct social reality through the explanation
and interpretation of information (Nišić & Plavšić,
2014). Moreover, the media can generate a culturally
distributed collective memory (Pavlaković & Perak,
2017, p. 301), and be the ‘site of memory’ (Mustapić &
Balabanić, 2018, p. 439), ‘the media plays a huge role
when it comes to dark tourism as it contributes to the
popularization of sites;’ ‘this could result in overcom-
mercialisation of dark tourism sites and these sites be-
coming a spectacle’ (Simone-Charteris, Kirkpatrick, &
McLaughlin, 2018, p. 73).
This pilot research illuminates the connection and
reflection of past traumatic events in contemporary
memorial practices with some perceived tourist char-
acteristics (or at least potentials for tourism develop-
ment). The research aims to add a new dimension to
social studies and humanities in providing a pilot anal-
ysis of history-centric memorial practices and dark
tourism.More specifically, the purpose of the research
is to provide a basic understanding of what dark events
and dark tourismmean in a specific regional environ-
ment: the countryside of the trans-border region of
Istria (Slovenian and Croatian part). A dark event, as
a construct used in this research, concurrently reflects
the memorial and dark tourism dimension and de-
rives from the dark event typology of Frost and Laing
(2013, pp. 36–42) and Kennell et al. (2018, p. 948).
According to the research purposes and after the
finished state-of-the-art (see chapters ‘Brief Theoreti-
cal Background: Dark Events and Dark Tourism’ and
‘Brief Historical Background: Traumatic 20th Century
in Istria’), we want to identify the media-constructed
social reality related to dark events as a significant part
of contemporary social life (which includes tourism)
in Istria. In addition, the second objective is to identify
contemporary types, time components, and locations
where public history-centric dark (memorial) events
take place in the Istrian countryside. Consequently, a
content analysis as a useful methodological approach
in social sciences, where its growing ‘popularity’ is ev-
idenced in several top quality scientific publications
(Neuendorf, 2017, p. xv, 4), was employed. Specifically,
we refer to a quantitative content analysis, which is
‘analysis of documents and texts that seeks to quan-
tify content in terms of predetermined categories and
in a systematic and replicable manner’ (Bryman, 2012,
p. 290).
The coding unit was an article as an independent
electronic media entity (e-newspaper). Each article
was coded according to predetermined codes (indica-
tors); see Tables 2 and 4. Codes represented categori-
cal variables with no multiple responses allowed. The
coding processwas done entirely by one researcher. All
quantitativemethods (cross tabulation and descriptive
analyses) were employed using spss Statistics 24.0.
Quantitative content analysis ismost efficientwhen
dealingwith specific research questions (Bryman, 2012,
p. 291; Riffe, Lacy, & Fico, 2005, pp. 43–45), which led
us to formulate the following research questions:
rq1 What are the main characteristics of Istrian
dark events that can be defined on a media ba-
sis?
rq2 Are dark events of different types associatedwith
areas?
rq3 When do Istrian dark events occur or when do
the media reports on them?
This research builds on some of the previous re-
search related to Istrian/Upper Adriatic memory, e.g.,
Ballinger (2002), D’Alessio (2012), Hrobat Virloget
(2015), Hrobat Virloget and Čebron Lipovec (2017),
or past commemorative practices, e.g., Klabjan (2010)
and Cattunar (2012), including those focused on the
legacy of Isonzo/Soča front, e.g., Kavrečič (2017), To-
dero (2010) as well as to some other contemporary
studies, e.g., Gosar, Koderman and Rodela (2015).
122 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019
Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
Brief Theoretical Background:
Dark Events and Dark Tourism
Tragic and morbid topics, in general, constitute a rel-
evant reason for travel, which makes this activity a
tourist activity within so-called dark tourism. Tarlow
(2005, p. 48) described dark tourism as ‘visitations
to places where tragedies or historically noteworthy
death has occurred and that continue to impact our
lives,’ while Preece and Price (2005, p. 192) defined it
as ‘travel to sites associated with death, disaster, acts of
violence, tragedy, scenes of death and crimes against
humanity.’ However, the first definitions of Foley and
Lennon (1996, p. 198) define it as ‘the presentation and
consumption (by visitors) of real and commodified
death and disaster sites,’ or as ‘the visitation to any
site associated with death, disaster and tragedy in the
twentieth century for remembrance, education or en-
tertainment’ (1997, p. 155), or as ‘tourism associated
with sites of death, disaster, and depravity’ (Lennon
& Foley, 1999, p. 46). Very relevant and interesting
are also two of Stone’s definitions: dark tourism is ‘the
act of travel to sites associated with death, suffering
and the seemingly macabre’ (2006, p. 146) and later
‘dark tourism is concerned with encountering spaces
of death or calamity that have political or historical
significance, and that continue to impact upon the liv-
ing’ Stone (2016, p. 23). All these definitions (and some
others, e.g., Ashworth, 2008, p. 234; Robb, 2009, p. 51)
indicate the breadth of the research area, as well as its
essence, which is human death and suffering. Foun-
dational monograph of Lennon and Foley entitled
Dark Tourism: The Attraction of Death and Disaster
(Lennon & Foley, 2000) conceptualised dark tourism
as a subset of cultural tourism and shifted it conceptu-
ally from heritage tourism (Bowman& Pezzullo, 2010;
Kravanja, 2018).
The term ‘dark tourism’ is not the only one to define
the tourism-death connection. The following terms
are also related to the connection between tourism
and death, which are not fully synonyms: holidays in
hell (O’Rourke, 1988), thanatourism (Seaton, 1996, p.
240), morbid tourism and an attraction-focused arti-
ficial morbidity-related tourism (Blom, 2000), sombre
tourism (Butcher, 2003; Hughes, 2008), fright tourism
(Bristow & Newman, 2005), atrocity tourism (Ash-
worth & Hartmann, 2005), grief tourism (Dunkley,
Morgan,&Westwood, 2007), conflict heritage tourism
(Mansfeld & Korman, 2015), genocide tourism (R. A.
Dunkley et al., 2007), trauma tourism (Clark, 2006),
war-related tourism (Bigley, Lee, Chon, &Yoon, 2010),
post-war tourism (Wise, 2011), war tourism (Keyes,
2012), warfare tourism (Šuligoj, 2016; 2017), battle-
field tourism (Dunkley, Morgan, & Westwood, 2011;
Ryan, 2007), tourism of memory (Hertzog, 2012), or
memorable tourism (Drvenkar, Banožić, &Živić, 2015;
Kim, 2013), favela tourism, (Robb, 2009), atomic or
nuclear tourism (Freeman, 2014; Gusterson, 2004)
and dystopian dark tourism (Podoshen, Venkatesh,
Wallin, Andrzejewski, & Jin, 2015). The term ‘dark
tourism’ is the most frequently searched tourism-
related keyword in the developed countries of North
America, Europe, and Australia (see https://trends
.google.com).
Kennell et al. (2018), in contrast, focused only on
so-called dark events, which are not exclusively related
to the dark tourism context. They adopted Frost and
Laing’s (2013, pp. 36–42) typology and listed: (a) dark
exhibitions, (b) dark re-enactments, e.g., annual re-
enactment of the battles, (c) national days of mourn-
ing or remembrance, (d) memorial services, opening
of memorials, concerts, performances, (e) significant
anniversaries, e.g., centenaries, (f) parades, marches,
processions, (g) festivals. Moreover, Getz’s (2008, p.
404), Frost and Laing’s (2013, pp. 36–42), andKennel et
al.’s (2018, pp. 947–949) descriptions of commemora-
tive events as one kind of cultural celebrations related
to the traumatic heritage/past as well as to the typol-
ogy of the related events were also relevant/interesting
for this research. Such events are usually designed to
remember victims and historical tragic events and are
carried out close to thememorial (Rojek, 1994) or dark
tourism sites; consequently, we link them directly to
the dark tourism. Dark tourism sites, which are also
event venues, are according to Seaton (1996) (a) sites
of public executions, (b) sites of individual or mass
deaths: areas of former battlefields, death camps and
sites of genocide and similar, (c) memorials or intern-
ment sites, (d) sites/areas with the purpose of viewing
evidence of death or symbolic representations of it and
(e) places or events of re-enactments or simulation of
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019 | 123
Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
death. However, in general, events ad these sites ‘are
often highly significant occasions for local communi-
ties andmight not be understood by tourists’ (Kennell
et al., 2018, p. 948). In the Istrian case, contemporary
memorial and dark tourism practices have not been
investigated, and we also do not know howmuch they
are present in the (regional) media.
Brief Historical Background: Traumatic 20th
Century in Istria
After the ruin of the Venetian Republic, and finally
with the Congress in Vienna (1815), the Istrian penin-
sula was annexed to the Habsburg Empire. In 1853,
Vienna declared Pula to be the empire’s principal mil-
itary port, which changed the city from an unimpor-
tant and inconsequently fishing village to one of Eu-
rope’s more prominent naval bases; none of the fol-
lowing regimes accomplished as much in developing
the city (Duda, 2000; Marsetič, 2013, pp. 483, 484). All
this development led to an intense militarisation as
well as the systematic urban planning and economic
development of Pula and the entire southern Istrian
peninsula (Marsetič, 2013). In terms of culture and en-
tertainment, Pula was also extremely advanced; see
Kalčić (2016) and Duda (2000). However, Pula was
differed from the rest of the region by presence of the
army, cultural abundance, and economic prosperity,
while the people of rural areas lived in poverty; see
Knez (2010) and Marsetič (2014). The clash with the
Kingdom of Italy in 1915 (wwi) halted the develop-
ment of the city/region.
Shortly before thewar, in the summer of 1914, a civil
steamboat, Baron Gautsch, sank south of Rovinj after
entering the minefield of the Austro-Hungarian Navy,
which was intended to defend the Imperial Navy from
the sea (Spirito, 2002). During the wwi, Pula was
bombed 41 times by Italian military aviators (Mandić,
2006, pp. 210–212), while other areas of the penin-
sula were not endangered/damaged. Residents of Is-
tria, especially in 1917, suffered from hunger, which
combined with diseases and dangerous living condi-
tions led to emigration/evacuation (Herman Kaurić,
2015, p. 14). According to the Treaty of Rapallo signed
on 12November 1920, almost all territory of the former
Austrian Littoral, including Istria, was annexed to the
Kingdom of Italy (Lipušček, 2012; Šuligoj, 2015a). A
great socio-economic crisis in the Pula and the whole
peninsula (Marsetič, 2006b; 2006a), which, together
with the state fascist terror, led to an increased emi-
gration of the Slavic population and Italian antifascists
(Dukovski, 2010; Hrobat Virloget & Čebron Lipovec,
2017, p. 47; Violante, 2009, p. 98); Slavic rebels as well
as native local Italians of different political ideologies
were persecuted by the fascists due to their common
work in an antifascist coalition movement (Ashbrook,
2006; Violante, 2009). Moreover, systematic ‘ethnic
refinement’ of the population was upgraded by the or-
ganised immigration of the ‘true Italians’ from other
parts of the kingdom, which additionally influenced
the change in the ethnic structure in Istria.
Resistance from the beginning of World War Two
onwards was escalated and transformed into a severe
armed conflict with the fascist Italian army. After the
capitulation of Italy in September 1943, Istria became
part of a German Province under the name of the Op-
erational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (Ferenc, 1966).
The tragedy of the occupation was also marked by the
deportation of more than 20,000 Istrians to the Nazi-
fascist concentration camps, from which more than
5,000 never returned; 5,000 Istrian Partisan fighters
did not survive wwii (Jokić & Čudov, 1986, p. 417).
The liberation of the Istrian peninsula was a mili-
tary action of the anti-fascist resistance movement
led by the Yugoslav Partisans (see Beltram, 2017, and
Dukovski, 2001; 2011), which Istrians of Italian origin
also were involved.
After wwii, pro-Italian forces launched a cam-
paign to blame Tito and his followers for the violence
and encouraged the Istrian Italians (both native to the
area and those that had immigrated) towards emigra-
tion (Altin&Badurina, 2017;Dukovski, 2010; Kosmač,
2018). Mass executions of (former) fascists and their
followers, capitalists, possessors, and Roman Catholic
priests by Tito’s army, mostly known as foibe (Altin
& Badurina, 2017; D’Alessio, 2012; Radošević, 2010)
(from the Italian word infoibare means throwing into
the abyss) caused additional upheaval.1 The victims
1 Chasms and foibe are characteristic for the allUpperAdriatic
karst landscape.
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Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
of the foibe and the socialist revolution were system-
atically denied up to the democratic changes of the
1990s.
On the international level, there were considerable
disagreements in determining the Italian-Yugoslav
state border (Kosmač, 2018). With the Paris Peace
Treaties signed in 1947, Italy had to cede most of the
Istrian peninsula to Yugoslavia; north of the River
Mirna, including the province of Trieste, became the
so-called Free Territory of Trieste (Dukovski, 2010;
Kosmač, 2018; Rogoznica, 2011; Tunjić, 2004; Violante,
2009). The border issue with Italy was resolved no ear-
lier than in 1954 and finally confirmed with the Treaty
of Osimo (1975): the whole Istrian peninsula South of
Muggia (Milje), was officially annexed to Yugoslavia
(Tunjić, 2004). Istria in the (Second) Yugoslavia was
divided between the two (socialist) republics, Slovenia
and Croatia. The new political regime and the system-
atic immigration of Slavic people from other Yugoslav
republics, significantly influenced the socio-economic
development of the region (see Purini, 2012; Hrobat
Virloget; and Šarić, 2015). Istria faced an imbalanced
development of coastal and some other towns/cities
(tourist and industrial centres) and the rural interior
of the region. This resulted in the economic stagnation
and depopulation of central Istria, where agriculture
prevailed.
The last military conflict in the 20th century in
Europe was the Yugoslav/Balkan conflict. The Croa-
tian homeland war in Istria was not as intense and
bloody as in some other areas. The Croatian part of
Istria was ‘liberated’ by the end of 1991 without a se-
rious direct military clash (Majušević, 2012, p. 446).
The Slovenian ten-day war did not reach the scale of
the Croatian one. However, there were three brief mil-
itary confrontations of the Slovenian police and Terri-
torial defence forces with the Yugoslav People’s Army
in the Istrian countryside: in the hamlet ofMoretini, at
the (then) Bivje intersection, and at the Škofije inter-
national border-crossing. These three confrontations
resulted in fivewounded and three deadYugoslav Peo-
ple’s Army soldiers (Filipčič, 2011, pp. 22, 23).
Istria, which was the leading tourist region as early
as in the period of post-wwii Yugoslavia (Blažević,
1984, p. 5), has been maintaining status and still has
highly recognisable tourism products on the interna-
tional level (e.g., sports events, cultural events, many
secular and sacral buildings from the Venetian, Aus-
trian and Italian periods, Tito’s and other heritage on
the Brijuni Islands, traditional gastronomy, the for-
mer Parenzana railroad track, and similar), what is, in
terms of development from the 19th century onwards,
described by Blažević (1984; 1987) and Šuligoj (2015b).2
Concurrently, because of its geostrategic position, the
multi-ethnical Istria was an area of constant conflict
and an area with reinforced military presence. Today,
in contrast, it is a recognisable Upper Adriatic area
of peace, collaboration and coexistence, although, ac-
cording to Cocco (2010), it remains deeply subjected
to Central European, Roman and Balkan influences.
It seems that the French slogan Liberté, égalité, fra-
ternité, is also alive in Istria in the late 20th century
and especially at the beginning of the 21st century,
although not without problems. Traumatic histori-
cal events of the 20th century with frequent changes
in power affected Istria’s residents in urban and ru-
ral areas. Consequently, this territory evolved over
years to become the South-European hotspot. This
creates different public memorial practices and dif-
ferent memorial sites, which offer typical examples,
which are nowadays linked also to dark tourism. They
are scattered around Istrian (coastal) cities as well as
in the countryside, which is generally less overloaded
with tourism, but traumatic situations (clashes, exe-
cutions, torture, etc.) were taking place there as well.
This offers new development opportunities for rural
tourism. In terms of dark tourism, this has not been
studied.
Contemporary Dark Events in the Istrian
Countryside
After wwi, wwii, and after all totalitarian regimes,
the events, heroes and victims of the Yugoslav/Balkan
conflict in the 1990s are commemorated in Istria. As
mentioned before, Istrian memorial and dark tourism
practices have not been investigated, and we also do
2 The roots ofmodern development date back to theHabsburg
period; more can be found in Kavrečič (2009; 2011; 2015) or
Baskar (2010).
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019 | 125
Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
January 
February 
March 
April 
May 
June 
July 
August 
September 
October 
November 
December 
Figure 1 Dark Events Distribution by Months
not know howmuch they are present in the (regional)
media. Thus, three leading regional newspapers were
selected: Primorske novice in Slovenian, Glas Istre in
Croatian, and La voce del popolo in the Italian language
(all available in printed and electronic versions). They
were selected on the basis of preliminary short infor-
mal interviews with eleven people of different ages in
Slovenian and ten in Croatian Istria.
Regional media are more familiar with the lo-
cal mentalities and historical moments than others
are. All available articles from 1 February 2016 to 30
November 2018 were included in the analyses, which
totals 126 articles. All articles were particularly focused
on history-centric dark events; commemorations of 1
November3 or scientific events were not included. Ba-
sic characteristics of analysed articles are presented
in Table 1. Figure 1 shows the time distribution of ar-
ticles on dark events in the Istrian countryside. As
we can see, they were unevenly dispersed throughout
the year; from this point of view, they are not tourist-
centric. Articles on off-summer season events (April,
September, October and November) are particularly
interesting.4 This is coherent with the idea of 365-days
tourism destinations, if dark events link with the dark
tourism context, as well as to thematic tourism theory.
This finding provides an answer to rq3.
In the following phase, all selected articles were
3 Known as All Saints’ Day, All Hallows’ Day or the Day of the
Dead.
4 It should be noted that articles in electronic media are pub-
lished on the day of event, or a day or two later.
Table 1 Characteristic of Analysed Articles
Category Item f 
(q) Newspaper Glas Istre  
La voce del popolo  
Primorske novice  
(q) Report type Short message  
A shortened version
of the printed report
 
Full text  
(q) Number
of photos
No photos  
One photo  
More than one photos  
(q) What kind
of photos?
Only old/historical  
Only new photos  
Both new and historical  
coded (see introductory chapter) and then analysed.
Table 2, which is result of cross-tabulation (χ2 Test of
Independence) analysis with Fisher exact test (FI(x)),
shows that history-centric dark events (according to
regional media) mainly occurred in rural areas (
∑
= 69), if small old Istrian towns can also be clas-
sified as rural areas. Moreover, memorial services as
an event type significantly dominate in all types of
areas, for which dark exhibitions should also be men-
tioned as the second-largest type of event in Istrian
media. Surprisingly, there are a small number of ar-
ticles on events in the non-settlement area, although
the main military clashes (and thus casualties) usually
take place there; the already mentioned foibe are also
located there; villages represent the second smallest
group of event venues. Nevertheless, according to re-
sults in Table 3, based on media articles there is not
enough evidence to suggest an association between
event type and area: FI(x) = 7.947 and exact p = 0.479
(if p ≤ 0.05 it is significant). This empirical finding
gave us an answer to rq2.
After the completion of the first analysis, a sim-
ple cross tabulation was employed for additional de-
scription of dark events in the Istrian countryside. As
a result, Table 4 shows themain characteristics of dark
events in the Istrian countryside. It is necessary to take
126 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019
Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
Table 2 Articles on Type of Area in Relation to Events Type
Event type Item () () () () ()
Dark exhibition Count     
Percentage within event type     
Percentage within area     
Percentage of total     
National day of Mourning or Remembrance Count     
Percentage within event type     
Percentage within area     
Percentage of total     
Memorial service Count     
Percentage within event type     
Percentage within area     
Percentage of total     
Significant anniversary Count     
Percentage within event type     
Percentage within area     
Percentage of total     
Total Count     
Percentage within event type     
Percentage within area     
Percentage of total     
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) city, (2) town, (3) village, (4) non-settlement area, (5) total.
Table 3 Statistical Significance
Item () () () ()
Pearson Chi-Square .*  . .
Likelihood Ratio .  . .
Fisher’s Exact Test . .
Linear-by-Linear Assoc. .**  . .
No. of Valid Cases 
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) value, (2) de-
grees of freedom, (3) asymptotic significance (2-sided), (4)
exact significance (2-sided).
into account once again that the following findings, as
well as previous ones, rely on media-constructed real-
ity in Istria.
Of the analysed regional electronic media arti-
cles, 44 report that dark events occurred at memo-
rials or internment sites and 19 at sites of individual or
mass deaths.Most of themwere in towns. Events were
history-centric with wwii as a background signifi-
cantly dominating in all areas. It should be taken into
consideration that wwii still represents the most ex-
tensive and traumatic armed conflict of the 20th cen-
tury in Istria; events that relate to the victims of fas-
cist terror could be added as well. Flower ceremonies,
as a significant component of the programme, were
pointed out in 54 articles, which clearly highlights
their importance. Similarly, a speech, as the simplest
event programme element, is reported in 43 articles,
while more varied cultural programmeswere found in
36 articles. They were the most frequent programme
type in villages and towns where events occurred; see
Table 4. These provide an answer to rq1.
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019 | 127
Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
Table 4 Characteristics of Dark Events in the Istrian Countryside
Event type Item () () () ()
Site category Site of individual or mass deaths Count    
Percentage    
Memorials or internment site Count    
Percentage    
Site/area with the purpose of viewing evidence
of death or symbolic representations of it
Count    
Percentage    
Conflict wwi Count    
Percentage    
Fascist terror Count    
Percentage    
wwii Count    
Percentage    
Socialist revolution and Italian exodus Count    
Percentage    
Independence war in the s Count    
Percentage    
Other Count    
Percentage    
Cultural programme Just a speech Count    
Percentage    
Varied cultural programme Count    
Percentage    
Not specified* Count    
Percentage    
Flower ceremony Yes Count    
Percentage    
No Count    
Percentage    
Not specified* Count    
Percentage    
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) city, (2) village, (3) non-settlement area, (4) total. * It was not clearly specified by
the journalist.
Conclusion
Dark tourism studies focus on the relationships be-
tween still-living generations of visitors and sites of
traumatic death. At these sites, dark events with sim-
ple or varied programmes occur today, which can be
a special type of thematic tourism. Consequently, ac-
cording to the purposes of this research (i.e., to provide
a basic understanding of what dark events and dark
tourismmean in a specific regional environment) dark
tourism and the Istrian history in the 20th century
128 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 2, December 2019
Metod Šuligoj Dark Events of the Istrian Countryside
were initially briefly described. On this basis, three
research questions were defined. Six indicators (time
distribution, event type, site category, conflict, cultural
programme and flower ceremony) served as robust di-
rections for the empirical analysis. It was determined
that wwii-relatedmemorial services are the dominat-
ing ones in all areas of Istrian countryside; dark events,
according to media, mostly occurred at memorials or
internment sites; most of them were in towns. Flower
ceremonies and cultural programme are significant
elements of Istrian dark events in all areas. However,
there is no statistically significant association between
event type and different rural areas, which also applies
when the urban environment is considered. These re-
sults, which reflect the media-constructed social real-
ity related to dark events, gave provide to all research
questions (rq1–rq3).
The value of this pilot research is that different
Istrian history-centric dark events reported in re-
gional electronic media were identified and then de-
scribed, which represents an original perspective in
dark tourism studies (especially in the post-Yugoslav
states). Consequently, we are now (at least basically)
familiar with the present Istrian dark events, which of-
fer an ideal base for the development of dark tourism
in the most developed tourist region of Slovenia and
Croatia.
However, this research has also certain limitations
and weaknesses that need to be mentioned. First, the
pilot research is done on the basis of electronic media,
which include only limited indicators/characteristics,
whichmeans that this is not a comprehensive analysis.
Second, dealingwith categorical variables limits statis-
tical analyses. Hence, the number of analysed research
units can affect the results; furthermore, this analysis
relies on the population. However, there was a possi-
bility that some articles could be unintentionally over-
looked. Nevertheless, there should not be a significant
discrepancy between the real and the analysed num-
ber of articles.
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