Slovenia's oldest city — a Roman-founded Drava River town where a Baroque hilltop castle watches over the oldest vineyards in Central Europe
Ptuj (pronounced 'Ptooy') is Slovenia's oldest continuously inhabited city, situated on both banks of the Drava River in the Styria wine region. Founded as a Roman settlement (Poetovio) and an important legion base on the Amber Road, it has a hilltop castle, a restored Roman theatre, and an old town of Baroque and Renaissance façades that makes it one of the most satisfying small historic cities in Central Europe. The Kurentovanje carnival festival (February) is Slovenia's most famous folk festival — a UNESCO-listed celebration of masked figures called Kurents who chase away winter.
Ptuj was established as a Roman colony in the 1st century CE, growing into one of the most important cities in the Roman province of Pannonia Superior — a mint, a legion base, and a centre of Mithras cult worship (several exceptional mithraic shrines have been excavated here). After Roman collapse it passed through Ostrogothic, Byzantine, and Frankish hands before becoming part of the Holy Roman Empire. The Ptuj castle, dramatically sited on the hilltop, was established by the Bishops of Salzburg in the 10th century and expanded through the medieval and Renaissance periods. Ptuj's wine histor…