ORIGIN OF THE GUESTHOUSE MIMBELLI
Public records show that hotel Mimbelli’s building was registered for the first time on December 28, 1885. At that time it was owned by a widow, Mrs. Teresa Francesca, born Zupa. House was built by her late husband,c (1836-1871), commander of several sail ships within Peljesac Marine Society.
Captain Astrid Gurich was only 35 when he died. He drowned when his sail ship Fanny Gurich sank in 1871, on the way from Constantinople to England. Several years later, a young widow Teresa married captain Ivan Stuk. House was registered into his name soon after the wedding.
OREBIĆ - The town of Sea Captains
Orebić central settlement developed in the 15th century and was named after the family who restored the castle inside the fortified settlement. In the 17th century ships from Pelješac were an important part of Dubrovnik merchant fleet. Ship owning families become richer and invest in joint ships.
In 1865 the Pelješac Maritime Society (Associazione di Marittima Sabioncello) was established. Company culminating in 1873 when it had 90 sailing vessels with total tonnage of 45000t with 2000 sailors, of which 250 captains who sailed through all the world’s seas.
MIMBELLI FAMILY MAUSOLEUM
Orebić was founded by a noble family of sea captains in 1584, and ever since it was home to sea captains and seafarers. One of the greatest families, the one that helped the poor and donated the building where Orebić municipality resides today is the Mimbelli family, better said their last descendant Baldo Mimbelli.
Baldo Mimbelli was son of Antonio Mimbelli, one of the five Mimbelli sons who lived and worked in Russia. He traded grain and transported it to all parts of the world on his ships. One day father Antonio brought home a Russian governess with her daughter to teach and raise his children. His son Baldo fell hopelessly in love with the governess’s daughter. But it was a forbidden love as he was a nobleman and she was only a governesses’ daughter.
Antonio and his wife forbade Baldo to act on his emotions and merry the Russian girl as she was of a lower class and different faith. Baldo swore to his parents that he will never love again, and that the Mimbelli will extinct. And so it was.
Baldo never married. He lived a life of solitude in Trieste and visited Orebić from time to time.Near the end of his life he commissioned a monument to be built-in the family mausoleum in Orebić. He commissioned it from a famous Croatian sculptor Ivan Rendić.
The monument tells a story of love that is beyond social boundaries and beyond life itself. It is a marble statue of a girl who fell asleep whilst holding a jug of water. The water is spilt, as it is the life of the great Mimbelli family when its last descendant died. But the girl, the love, still stands the test of time rising proudly above the Pelješac channel, greeting all the passengers who pass, reminding us that true love never dies, that those who love live forever in the hearts of the people who they touched.
On his death-bed Baldo asked that he and his parents be buried in the family mausoleum in Orebić. As they died in Italy they were transported in lead sarcophagi to Orebić. People of Orebić transported them to the Monastery on the hill. They pulled the sarcophagi for three days and three nights along the forest up to the hill of the Franciscan monastery where they lie to this day.
