Supetar

Most people arrive in Supetar without planning to. It is where the car ferry from Split docks, and for many it is simply the place a Brač holiday begins. That undersells it badly: Supetar is the island's administrative capital and largest settlement, and within walking distance of the ferry ramp you will find a Roman villa, an early Christian mosaic and one of the most remarkable cemeteries on the Adriatic.

The harbour that took over from Nerežišća

Supetar is a town on the northern coast of the island of Brač, in Croatia's Split-Dalmatia County. According to the 2021 census, it has a population of 4,325, making it the largest town on the island and its administrative centre.

The settlement grew out of a harbour used by residents of the inland town of Nerežišća, who began landing their boats here in the 16th century. Supetar overtook Nerežišća as Brač's administrative seat in 1827, and most of the town as it stands today was built up during the 18th and 19th centuries. Its name comes from "Sv. Petar" (Saint Peter), reflecting the parish's dedication.

The name itself appears in written records as early as 1423. The town's rise through the 19th century tracked two industries in particular — stone quarrying and sail — as Brač built up one of the larger merchant fleets in Dalmatia. The population climbed steadily from 2,571 at the 1857 census to its present figure. Supetar was granted formal town status in 1997, and the municipality now also takes in the smaller settlements of Mirca, Splitska and Škrip along the north coast.

Roman quarries and the oldest village on Brač

The area's history runs a good deal deeper than that 16th-century harbour. Remains from the 6th century survive inside the modern town: an early Christian mosaic beside the parish church, and a Roman villa rustica on the cape of St Nicholas, immediately next to Banj beach. Both point to a late antique settlement on the same bay that had been abandoned long before the present town took shape.

A short drive east, above the village of Splitska, lies the Rasohe quarry, where Roman workers cut the white limestone shipped across the channel to build Diocletian's Palace in Split. The rock face still carries a weathered relief of Hercules, club over his shoulder, carved by the men who worked the stone. Inland from there, Škrip is the oldest settlement on the island, with Illyrian walls, a Roman mausoleum and a later defensive tower tangled into a few streets; it houses the Brač Island Museum. Brač stone never stopped being the island's calling card, and the quarries around Pučišća are still working today.

The parish church and an open-air sculpture museum

The Parish Church of St. Peter, rebuilt in Baroque style in 1773, holds paintings by the local artist Feliks Tironi and a Venetian altarpiece. The town cemetery is notable for funerary sculpture by Ivan Rendić, one of Croatia's best-known sculptors, and by Toma Rosandić, including the mausoleum of the Petrinović family.

The church was extended again in 1887, and its well is decorated with reliefs dated 1734. St Peter's day is still marked with a town festival each June. Rendić (1849–1932) was born in Supetar and is usually described as the father of modern Croatian sculpture; he laid out the cemetery himself, and a gallery in town is devoted to his work. The Petrinović mausoleum, raised between 1924 and 1927 in white Brač stone, was the work of Toma Rosandić (1878–1958) after the commission originally intended for Rendić fell through. Its cluster of five domes, bronze doors and carved reliefs make the cemetery closer to an open-air gallery than a graveyard.

Beaches around the town

Banj is the beach most people mean when they talk about swimming in Supetar — pebble and shingle, a few minutes' walk from the centre, backed by pines and looking straight across at the villa rustica headland. Vlačica sits just along from it and is the one locals tend to use. Beyond those, the shore east and west of town strings together Bili Rat, Vela Luka, Tri Mosta and Lučica, all pebble, all reachable on foot or by bike along the coastal path. The water is clear and shelves gently, and the pine belt gives enough shade that you do not have to plan the day around the middle of the afternoon.

Arriving, mooring and moving on

Supetar is Brač's main ferry gateway: Jadrolinija car ferries from Split cross in about 50 minutes, running frequently in summer. Since many gulet cruises from Split call in here, Supetar is often the first stop for charter guests before they continue on around the island.

In peak season the line runs well over a dozen sailings a day in each direction, falling to roughly nine to eleven out of season. Brač Airport, on the plateau above Bol at 541 metres, is about 32 kilometres away by road and handles seasonal flights. For anyone arriving on their own keel, the northern half of the harbour belongs to the ferry terminal and has no visitor berths; boats use the southern side, where space is limited and the water is shallow, around two to three metres in places. The harbour is comfortable enough in ordinary summer conditions but exposed to strong northerly and north-westerly winds, so most charter itineraries treat Supetar as a shore-excursion stop and overnight in more sheltered bays further round the island.