it was an austro-hungarian port city that should have stayed theirs after ww1, but because the empire was dissolved and most of the inhabitants were italian it was claimed by italy immediatly after ww1 ended. It was also claimed by yugoslavia because the sorrounding cities were majority croats. it was then annexed by italy only in 1924 after its occupation by Gabriele D’Annunzio, a famous italian poet, in 1920. After ww2 the territory was given to yugoslavia and most local italians flee to Italy so now it is a mostly croat city.