Instead of fluttering on the sea, on the rainy Night of Museums, numerous sails filled the space of the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo "Batana" and took visitors on a journey through some of the most significant moments in its 20 years of existence. Numerous photographs from the exhibition "Ecomuseo as a reference point of Rovinj's identity" applied to sail-shaped surfaces presented the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo through its beginnings, the most important events such as the Rovinj Regatta and the Batana Rowing Regatta, components such as Spacio Matiko and the Small Shipyard, and, along with a tour of the permanent exhibition, encouraged visitors to learn about all the efforts made to preserve and protect Rovinj's distinctive maritime heritage from oblivion.

An important part of this heritage, musical and gastronomic, could be experienced on the Night of Museums at the other end of Rovinj-Rovigno in the wine cellar better known as Spacio Matika. Once upon a time, almost every street in Rovinj had a spacio, which was actually a type of tavern, a place where draft wine was stored, tasted and resold, but also where people socialized, ate and sang. Each spacio was a place for Rovinj farmers and fishermen to meet and connect, and fishermen would regularly come here after a day or night of fishing. With a quart of wine and a few grilled fish, they would exchange stories and comment on important events. Sometimes they would play cards, briškula, trešeta and mòra, and they would always sing a bitinàda, a Rovinj folk song created by Rovinj fishermen who spent hours in their boats fishing or mending their nets. Since they did not have free hands for instruments, they figured out how to achieve top-notch performances of an orchestra with their voices, which makes bitināda truly unique, so it has been entered as an intangible cultural asset on the List of Protected Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia (the holder is the Italian Community of the City of Rovinj). The nurturing and preservation of the tradition of bitināda and bitinādūra in Rovinj is especially continued by the Cultural and Artistic Society “Marco Garbin” of the Italian Community of the City of Rovinj (SAC "Marco Garbin" CI "Pino Budicin), which delighted visitors on the Night of Museums with a four-hour concert accompanied by tasting of small snacks with the flavors of the sea. Dressed in their traditional clothing, the members of SAC-KUD "Marco Garbin" CI- ZT "Pino Budicin" once again revived and proudly presented its musical heritage in the most beautiful light with their voices full of love for their hometown.

The preservation of all this represented heritage depends solely on the younger generations, who need to be introduced to the history of the city and its heritage values ​​from an early age. Therefore, on the occasion of the Night of Museums, the Ecomuseum-Ecomuseo "Batana", in collaboration with theatre pedagogues Prof. Milan Medak and Sanja Lađarević from the Rovinj Drama Studio "Ulix", held three editions of the storytelling workshop "Tarta Caterina". The lower grades of the Rovinj Italian and Croatian elementary schools "Juraj Dobrila" and "Vladimir Nazor" participated in them on 30 and 31 January at the MMC.

Through numerous forms of expression; spoken, written, staged, verbal and non-verbal, and pictorial, the children set off on a miraculous journey across the Adriatic with the Greek-Rovinj turtle Caterina, who delighted them with her courage. In order to make it easier and better to participate in the 90-minute workshop, at the very beginning, the storytellers introduced them to some of the topics and concepts that would be mentioned in the story: endangered species (loggerhead turtle and Mediterranean monk seal), a map of Greece, the Adriatic Sea, Istria and the Rovinj archipelago, the legend of the sunken city of Cissa, the history of the passenger ship Baron Gautsch, and then came the turn of Rovinj fishermen, batanes and bitinàde, and traditional fishing equipment. Greek, Dalmatian and Rovinj melodies could be heard in the background, which some recognized and others got to know. After a short rest, the young participants warmed up through movement, got to know each other, connected, and then through interactive participation began to use various drama techniques.

The children enjoyed the tasks in which they used their bodies, gestures and facial expressions to conjure up earthquakes, eruptions, storms and waves by freezing images, and then together they shaped the batana and its oars, while the role of the mast on which the batana's sails would flutter fell to one of the teachers present. Using the smallest batana, lent for the occasion by the Benussi "Scurleîn" sisters, they learned parts of the batana in Croatian and Italian, as well as the Rovinj dialect, and were then ready for interactive storytelling by Milan Medak and Sanja Lađarević. Despite the large amount of text and the abundance of details, the inspired and skilled storytellers successfully kept the children's attention, teaching them through the character of the turtle Caterina about perseverance, endurance, courage, friendship, care for the elderly and the environment. They were introduced to the Adriatic coast and its islands and marine inhabitants, with special emphasis placed on the Rovinj waters, where the turtle Caterina traveled to get to know the area where she was born and the island after which she was named.

"We are very satisfied with the overall response to the Night of Museums and the workshops held and the reactions of the children who, after listening to the story, expressed their impressions through beautiful drawings and through imaginative embodiment of the parts of the story that impressed them the most. We would like to thank the organizer of the 20th anniversary Night of Museums, the Museum of the City of Rovinj-Rovigno - Museo della Città di Rovinj-Rovigno, all participants in our programs and visitors, and the theater teachers from the Drama Studio "Ulix" who took three groups of our elementary school students on this educational and inspiring journey. Through it, they encouraged the children to become aware of their own desires, potentials and talents through the story of the Greek-Rovinj turtle Caterina and to connect more strongly with the values ​​of life and the heritage of the city in which they live, and especially with our batana. We plan to present the results of the workshop through photographs, video materials and, most beautifully, through an exhibition of the participants' drawings, and I am sure that we will continue to develop the story of the turtle Caterina through other activities as well," Nives pointed out. Giuricin, director of the Institution "House of Batana".