Looking west from Motovun, I have often seen a dark, dense blanket over the stretch of the Adriatic visible from the town, as well as the adjoining lowlands. Smog, a few people have told me gravely, having to do with pollution mainly from Trieste and Venice, but also from Kopar on the Slovene coast. Industry, home heating, cars… Indeed, the reddish lining of the low, brownish stretch on the horizon looked very like the smog I have seen hovering above cities all around the world. But, for as long as I have been living in Istria, this looked like someone else’s problem. This seems to be changing, though. And rather abruptly, too. The purplish smog with orange lining has been moving up the Mirna valley since a month or two ago. This is something new, some people are telling me. Some of them are convinced this is smog. As I write, the impenetrable curtain is hanging above Ponte Porton, less then ten kilometers west from the town. Grožnjan is behind this curtain, completely invisible. And it appears it is edging this way. Day by day, it is coming closer, blotting out everything in sight. Getting a bit anxious, I have been looking for an article about this new phenomenon in the local newspapers, but to no avail. It appears no-one is concerned enough as yet. Coming from the north-east, the next bout of bora will quickly clean up the mess, but all the other winds blowing in these parts are liable to push the smog further up the Mirna. Smog in Istria… Only a month or two ago I would have thought this was a contradiction in terms. Like smog in paradise.

Addendum I (January 15, 2005)

And the bora began last night. Gently it began, and gently it kept pushing the clouds toward Italy. It pushed and pushed, all night and all day. By now, hardly an hour after sunset, the ragged edge of dark clouds has been pushed well beyond the coast of Istria, revealing a cold, clear sky. “God be praised for the bora,” I kept whispering to myself as I watched the wretched clouds from the window, “God be praised…”

Addendum II (January 17, 2005)

Predictably enough, the bora weakened yesterday. Today it weakened even more. And the smog slowly returned to Ponte Porton. By the time the sun set this evening, the third clear evening in a row, the gathering smog acquired its purplish color with its tell-tell reddish lining. There can be no doubt about it any longer: the smog is spilling into the Istrian peninsula from northern Italy. Of course, it will take good scientists a few more years to prove this to their own satisfaction. And it will take the good politicians another few more years to figure out how to deal with the growing environmental problem.

Addendum III (September 10, 2015)

A bit more than ten years later, neither scientists nor politicians in Istria could care less about this growing environmental problem. Smog is still spilling into the Istrian peninsula from northern Italy, and in ever-greater profusion, but this is of no interest to anyone in these parts. The fact that smog turns into acid rain, which acidifies the soil, is of nobody’s concern, either. In other words, my expectation that something or other would be done about this problem over the years was wide off the mark. In fact, few people are even aware of the problem to this day. To most concerned, smog in Istria still sounds like a contradiction in terms. My only solace in this sad story is the bora. From time to time, the northeasterly wind dutifully pushes all the smog from Istria back to Italy, where it belongs. This is what happened only a few days ago, and I rejoiced at the swiftness with which the job was done. The Mirna valley sparkled like new! Would that I could beckon the bora whenever the smog in Istria got too thick for my personal taste…