Lastovo is an archipelago of islands made up of 46 islands and islets, covering a total of 56 square kilometres. The chief island is located south of Korčula, between Dubrovnik and the Italian coast. The island is covered with lush vegetation , and the cleanest sea in Dalmatia glimmers green in its picturesque coves.
Lastovo is an archipelago of islands made up of 46 islands and islets, covering a total of 56 square kilometres. The chief island is located south of Korčula, between Dubrovnik and the Italian coast. It is nearest to Vieste in Italy – 56 miles and to Split – 60 miles. The island is covered with lush vegetation (along with Mljet, it is the most forested island in the Adriatic), and the cleanest sea in Dalmatia glimmers green in its picturesque coves. Right up to the 1990s, the island was used as a military base and was as such closed to tourists. Deserted barracks and tunnels bored into the living rock bear witness to that period (two of the tunnels are in the sea). There are some 700 people now living on Lastovo, most of them working as traditional fishermen and farmers.
Lastovo has a rich history. The first people recorded by history to inhabit it were the Illyrians, followed by the Greeks (Ladeston), then Romans (Ladesta), and the Croats (Lastovo). In the Middle Ages Lastovo was a part of the Republic of Dubrovnik. Falconry (the training of falcons) was well developed on the island during that period. The first written document relating to falconry dates from the year 1280, which means that falconry may have a history of as much as a thousand years on Lastovo. To this day peregrine falcons nest on the inaccessible rocks of Sokolina. The people of Lastovo delivered trained falcons to Dubrovnik as a part of their tax payments. Dubrovnik exported these falcons to Naples, and they were sold from Naples to Arab rulers. In the archives of Dubrovnik, a story has been preserved of Lastovo and Dubrovnik nobles who carried 16 falcons to the viceroy inNaples. As the value of a single trained falcon was immense, each of the nobles was responsible for his falcon with his life.
The old trails through forests and fields that once served the fishermen and hired farmhands of Lastovo as a route to their fields or from their village to the bays in which they moored their barques and salted fish have been cleared (only enough to make passage possible) for all those who enjoy a walk through the surroundings of Pasadura.
Also fascinating is the trail from Rače cave where archaeological artefacts from the Neolithic period (4000-3000 years before the present) have been unearthed to the Medvjedina cave where the Mediterranean monk seal still lived some 30 years ago before losing the battle with Homo sapiens.