Opatija once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Till the I. World War its name was Abbazia.
The establishment of Abbazia started in 1844 when Villa Angiolina was built on the seaside by Higinio Scarpa, an italian businessman. But the real booming of the seaside resort came only later with the expansion of the railway network in the Monarchy. By the end of the 19. century countless villas and hotels had been built for the entertainment of the aristocracy and the bourgeois societies.
