21/02/2021
Vila Dalmacija - Tito's Villa
Nestled within the Marjan Hill Forest Park along Split's Adriatic coast is the resplendent seaside chateau known today as "Vila Dalmacija". The villa was built in 1914 by Czech entrepreneur Franjo Schiller, which he originally dubbed "Vila Schiller". However, just two years after the end of WWII in 1947, Tito noticed the villa on a visit to Split and decided to nationalize the property for use as one of his personal residences. It was at this point that the residence was given its new name "Vila Dalmacija". Some assert that Tito chose Marjan Hill as his place of residence in Split because during WWII the Partisan song "Marjane, Marjane" (which was about Marjan Hill) was among his most favorite wartime tunes to hear his soldiers sing. Unfortunately, sources do not provide much information about Tito's time here at his Split villa or how often he visited or stayed here in his time spent traveling across Yugoslavia. However, what sources do say is that during the Yugoslav-era, it was considered the "hot spot of communist elite" in Split. Furthermore, the site must have most certainly been of strategic significance to Tito, since a large network of underground tunnels and defensive bunkers were built adjacent to the Vila Dalmacija, with photos and a map of the tunnels available at THIS link.
After Tito's passing, the Vila Dalmacija was used less and less, however, the most significant use of villa in the post-Tito era was in March of 1991 when the villa was used to host what was the first meeting between the three leaders Alija Izetbegović, Slobodan Milošević and Franjo Tuđman for the purposes of avoiding war across the former Yugoslav region (which they ultimately failed in succeeding at). After the end of the Yugoslav Wars, the Vila Dalmajica began to be used as a special event location, most notably for weddings, for which it quickly became the most exclusive venue. However, operating as an exclusive government-owned venue has meant that the site has been off-limits to the general public. Many recent news reports indicate that the city of Split is working to increase access to the site, potentially with even offering tours of the interior of Tito's villa (which is reportedly still in its original condition), but as of yet such plans are yet to manifest. Meanwhile, in 2014, the villa was used as a shooting location for episodes for season 5 of the HBO television show "Game of Thrones", which has further increased touristic interest in the site.