The coastal areas
of Istria came under Venetian influence in the 9th century. The
settlement was first mentioned in writing as Insula in a Venetian document entitled Liber
albus in 932AD. It became definitely
the territory of the Republic of
Venice in 1267, and the centuries
of Venetian rule left a strong and enduring mark on the region. The Venetian
part of the peninsula passed to the Holy
Roman Empire of the German Nation in
1797 with the Treaty of Campo Formio,
until the period of Napoleonic rule from 1805 to 1813 when Istria
became part of the Illyrian
provinces of the Napoleonic
Empire. After this short period, during which Izola's walls were torn down and
used to fill in the channel that separated the island from the mainland, the
newly established Austrian Empire ruled Istria until November 1918. Then Istria became part of the Kingdom of Italy, until Italian capitulation in September 1943, whereupon control
passed to Germany. Izola was liberated by a
