BRIONI, TITO’S ISLAND RETREAT

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28421, 30 October 1957, Page 15

BRIONI, TITO’S ISLAND RETREAT

(From a Reuter Correspondent)

BRIONI ISLAND (Jugoslavia). A lush, wooded island in thr Adriatic, the holiday playground of Austrian arch-dukes and their ladies until World War I. has been rapidly transformed into the summer capital of Jugoslavia’s Communist Government

With President Tito in permanent residence on Brioni throughout the summer, practically all important State business at this time of year now centres on this ultra-private "paradise isle.’’ to which there is a mass exodus of officials from the torpid heat of Government headquarters in Belgrade, the Jugoslav capital city.

Brioni was a rich man’s r etreat when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in control of much of present-day Jugoslavia. After World War I, it became part of Italy and Count Galleazo Ciano. Mussolini’s son-in-law and Foreign Minister, later had a villa there.

Under Italy, Brioni became a secluded haven for aristocratic polo players.

When the island reverted to Jugoslavia at the end of World War 11, it was swiftly appropriated by President Tito for his personal use. The Jugoslav Chief of State says he likes Brioni better than any other place in Jugoslavia.

President Tito usually spends the entire summer on the island, werking in his white villa on State papers brought by courier from Belgrade, or swimming, sunbathing, entertaining guests and speeding in a motor-boat along the coast of the Istrian peninsula. The Jugoslav leader likes to take special guests to the island for a few days’ rest and sunshine. Among those who have stayed with the President on Brioni this year are King Paul and Queen Frederika of the Hellenes;, the Swedish Prime Minister, Mr Tagc Erlander; Dr. Ho Chi-minh, President of Communist North Vietnam; and Mr Hugh Gaitskell. leader of the Opposition in the British Parliament. Scores of lesser visitors have made lightning trips to Brioni, usually by military aircraft from Belgrade, to talk with the President.

Foreign statesmen. Jugoslav officials, ambassadors and anyone else who is granted a Presidential audience during the summer usually is compelled to fly about 360 miles from Belgrade and back, sometimes in a single day. If visitors are forced to spend the night on Brioni, they are accom-

modated in a villa or in one of the two hotels on the island. This depends on’ the degree of their importance. Top-flight guests usually stay in a luxurious new villa called Brienka.

The best of the hotels, the Neptune. completed in 1955 in tasteful modern design, is a favourite centre for holidaying Jugoslav officials who do not rate villas of their own. President Tito allows large numbers of these officials to come to the island each year for their holidays. Thus, even on holiday, the President is surrounded by scores of his senior advisers—even though they spend most of their time on a shady private beach. The Jugoslav leader’s favourite recreation is to take a special guest by motor-boat to a tiny island, Vanga. just behind Brioni, which has been turned into a kind of ultra-private “den” for the President. Once there, he likes to demonstrate his skill at preparing barbecue meals on an open fire. They are said to be good. Apart from about 100 people such as gardeners, boatmen, cooks and servants, who live in island cottages, no ordinary Jugoslav ever sets foot on Brioni. Unlike some pther recreation areas which were commandeered by the Communists after the war only to be turned back to the general public about 1953, Brioni has remained firmly closed to the ordinary citizen. Brioni is a remarkably selfcontained little island. It has its own post office, where the President’s mail is sorted, a telephone exchange with direct lines to Belgrade, and even a portable radiophoto apparatus at hand to transmit photographs of the President to the mainland. Horse-drawn carriages await visitors at the landing stage, ready to take them to their villas or for a gentle trot around the island. As they drive, they are likely to meet the bare-headed President driving his wife Jovanka in a fast open Cadillac.

The island, an idyllic spot where deer romp through a lush park surrounded by pines, is separated from the mainland by a 10-minute crossing in a fast launch. The launch pulls out from a special jetty at a tiny fishing village called Fazana. and sometimes curious and loitering visitors are politely moved on by the police. Overlooking the jetty, the fishermen of Fazana sit most afternoons and evenings in the garden of the Slavija inn, sipping heady plum brandy, exchanging village gossip, and playing their accordions. They take little notice of the comings and goings at the jetty or of the big Brioni-bound cars which race through the sleepy village street.