Tvrdalj Castle

Tvrdalj Castle in Stari Grad, on the island of Hvar, was the summer home of the Croatian Renaissance poet Petar Hektorović (1487–1572), author of Fishing and Fisherman's Talk, generally regarded as the first realistic epic of Croatian Renaissance literature. The land was granted to his father in 1448, and Hektorović rebuilt the house to his own design after he inherited it.

When Ottoman raids threatened Hvar in the 16th century, he turned his residence into a shelter for the town's citizens, giving it a long, closed facade on the seaward side to keep attackers out. The defenses weren't enough in the end — in 1571 Stari Grad was attacked again and Tvrdalj was set on fire. Hektorović died the following year, and the property was later split among his relatives.

The best-known part of the castle is its courtyard, built around a sea-water fish pool stocked with grey mullet, ringed by a vaulted, arcaded terrace and topped by a dovecote. Behind the main building is a walled garden where Hektorović grew herbs and medicinal plants, some sent to him as gifts by fellow poets in Dubrovnik.

The walls carry inscriptions in Latin and Croatian — among the oldest surviving Croatian inscriptions on record — written in a moralistic, humanist tone. One greets visitors arriving by sea with "OMNIUM CONDITORI" ("To the Creator of All"), while another, carved beside a skull near the fish pool, bluntly reminds them that neither wealth nor fame can save anyone from death.

Part of the castle today houses an ethnographic collection covering island life — winemaking, olive growing, traditional crafts — and it's one of the more worthwhile stops in Stari Grad for anyone splitting their days between towns and beaches on a gulet cruise along the Croatia coast.