It has approximately 5000 inhabitants. The natural framework inside which the town has grown up, the fertile hinterland which supplied the town with agricultural produce, the rich and extensive saltpans, and the good fishing provided by the waters of the Adriatic are all indirectly expressed in the fabric of the town and in its past. The town began to develop in the early Middle Ages.
Archaeological finds give evidence of continuous settlement since prehistoric times.
Not much is known about the original appearance of the town. Piran is first mentioned in written sources in the first decade of the 7 th century. The embryo of the town of Piran was undoubtedly a late-Roman castra, whose traditions survived up until the middle of the 14 th century. The castra occupied the central section of present-day Punta. The town was probably fortified with a defensive wall as early as the 7 th century.