Diocletian's 1,700-year-old palace — where the Roman Empire didn't fall, it just became a city
Split (population 180,000, second-largest city in Croatia) is built inside — literally inside — the walled retirement palace that Roman Emperor Diocletian constructed for himself between 295 and 305 AD. Roughly 3,000 people live, work, and run restaurants within the original palace walls. The Riva promenade (the waterfront terrace immediately south of the palace, rebuilt in 2007) runs along the harbor where ferries depart to the Dalmatian islands — Hvar, Brač, Vis, Korčula. The evening korzo (the Croatian promenade tradition, a slow walk along the Riva with an aperitivo) is the defining ritua…
Split grew around the retirement palace Emperor Diocletian built between 295 and 305 AD — the most intact Roman imperial palace in existence, covering nine hectares of what is now the Old Town. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Croatian settlers moved inside the palace walls and gradually converted it into a city, living in the emperor's halls and corridors. The historic core became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.