At the end of the 19th century, owing to the dedicated work and expert publications of the Lošinj’s botanist, Prof. Ambroz Haračić, followed by the arrival and miraculous recuperation of an ailing son of a distinguished Viennese climatologist, Dr. Conrad Clar (in 1885), the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy heard of Lošinj, the island extending deep into the clear Adriatic Sea, being of unique natural beauty and miraculously healthy climate.
Thereby learning of the new address of health and beauties of Mother Nature at the always fascinatingly appealing Adriatic Sea, the daring intellectuals and members of wealthier citizenry, as well as the members of Austrian nobility, such as the Archduke Karl Stephan Habsburg (who, in 1886 is already building his villa “Wartsee” in Veli Lošinj) started to visit the Island, not wasting another moment, thereby being shrewd in instantly recognizing it as a perspective destination and in 1886 initializing the establishment of the first tourist society in Mali Lošinj (Dr. Leopold Schrotter), indicating, somewhat prophetically, that Lošinj, at that time being solely naval-oriented, was capable of taking up an entirely new potential course of development – the course of tourism.
Understandably, the newly arrived visitors started to utilize the opportunity to invest, primarily in picturesque little towns where first tourist facilities were soon open (Hotel Vindobona in Mali Lošinj in 1887), and thereafter beginning to sort through the neighboring virginal coves, picking out the best locations for their villas, hotels, pensions and sanatoriums.
The tourist history of the tame Čikat (Cigale) Cove began here with the construction of the first Villa “Adelma”. The Cove, aside from its ideal position and proximity of Mali Lošinj, has always been particularly fascinating due to its tranquil privacy, serene silence and crystal clear sea, thereby inevitably being an ideal, romantic place for a vacation and convalescence of a very particular and wealthy clientele. 

The already mentioned 1892 was also the year when Mali and Veli Lošinj received their greatest acknowledgement, being proclaimed climatic spas and rehabilitation centers under the direct supervision of the Viennese Court, resulting in a more intense arrival of visitors to the Island which had irretrievably and without stopping taken the new road of development.

The Villa is situated in Ostrugova Cove, in the Eastern part of the Čikat Bay, between the Hotel “Alhambra” and Villa “Mirasole”.
It was designed as a one-storey house, retracted into a slope, in a simple secession style with an artificially land filled front garden that elevates it, separating it from the main Lošinj promenade and rocky beach. The garden, although smaller, is abundant with Mediterranean plants – laurel, myrtle, rose-bay, as well as various exotic palm trees, of which two of the highest ones stand out as a recognizable symbol and trademark of the Villa, also being of the same age. However, the most impressive is the pine tree in the Northern part of the garden, alongside the promenade, that is over 150 years old and with its unusual bark and unbridled tree top represents the greatest attraction for the walkers who often respectfully touch it hoping to feel its vital energy.
The Villa can already be seen in photographs from 1907 so it is safe to assume that it was built a few years earlier, the same also being mentioned in the “Woerl’s Reisehandbucher” tourist guide printed in Leipzig and in 1909 in the “Illustrierter Fuhrer durch die kurorte Lussinpiccolo und Lussingrande”. In other tourist guides, the Villa Hygeia was always advertised as the annex to the “Alhambra” hotel (designed in 1912 by the designer Alfred Keller). The architect of the Villa, unfortunately, still remains unknown. Also, there is no record of the first owner, but it is known that since 1910 the owner was Captain Kersten Leopold, who was the first owner registered in the cadastral register. In 1925, he sold the Villa to Teresa Gerdinich.
After the nationalization process in 1948, the Villa was named “Sarajevo”, and after 1992 it became Villa “Igea”.
The Villa, a brick structure with wooden constructions between the floors, was a one storey house prior to its reconstruction, consisting of a ground floor and the first floor, being shaped in an “L”. A three-way staircase used to connect the central ground floor, the first floor and the attic. The first two arms of the staircase were made of stone, while the third one was wooden. There was no basement.
The ground floor consisted of two larger rooms, each with its own bathroom, a storage room and another toilet and a separate bathroom. On the first floor there were two larger and two smaller rooms, as well as one bathroom and one toilet. Only two rooms had doors leading to the only balcony, and neither of today’s terraces existed. The attic was classical, having a low ceiling and almost no use. Behind the Villa, at the mezzanine level (today’s reception), there was a rain-water tank (today it is a staircase leading downstairs from the reception). The Villa had only one entrance – the one on the ground floor (today’s entrance into the “Adelma” Suite).
From the more significant reconstruction in 1968 until the Villa became the property of the Bukovec family in 2002, the state of the Villa deteriorated and in 1993 it was recorded that the interior, construction wise, was in an extremely poor state, while the roof and the façade were damaged.
The reconstruction and annexing, managed by the Bukovec family, began in the fall 2005 and was finished, after various trials and tribulations, before Christmas 2007.
During the aforementioned process, the most significant intervention was the excavation of a basement (6 meters deep under the Villa, all rock) resulting in about 50 trucks of rocks, followed by the replacement of all wooden inter-storey constructions with concrete plates, the replacement of all wooden windows and doors on the Villa (78 of them), as well as completely new roofing. Adding a new section to the old “L” shape of the Villa, as well as the new façade and fittings (40 km of circuit cables; 130 lighting positions; 400 switches and outlets; 3,5 km of heating pipes; 300 m of air-conditioning pipes; 1500 m of water pipes…..) was the easier part.

Hygeia- The Goddess of Health and Wellbeing

The Villa was named after HYGEIA, (also Hygieia; Hygia; Hygea; Igea), the Greek Goddess of Health and general Wellbeing, also a daughter of the God of Medicine, Asclepius, and a close companion of Goddess Aphrodite.
From the name HYGEIA, arose the term “hygiene” we use today – the same being used within the meaning of health prevention, as well as the term “Wellness” – used to generally describe good and healthy psychophysical state as a basis of good health (eng. Wellbeing).

It is important to mention that all Čikat villas are a part of a group of buildings having historical architectural-urban value, all due to their representativeness, qualitatively unique architecture and garden horticulture, thereby being classified into the 1st category of the protection regime.

Villa  “ADELMA”

The first villa built in Čikat Cove was Villa “Adelma“.
It was designed by the famous architect Friedrich Sigmundt from Graz who devised the villa in a neohistoric style, mixing it with other architectural elements adapted to the Mediterranean style. The construction was initiated in 1892 by Willibald Riedel, a shipping agent from Graz, hoping that the climate of Mali Lošinj will alleviate his own cardiac problems. Unfortunately, in 1885, prior to moving in, the owner, Riedel, died, and the villa was acquired by Odeon Way with his wife, the Countess Adelma Wurmbrand-Stuppach, after whom the villa was first named.
The Villa, a raised ground-floor house, is situated on the Northern slope, left to the Ambroz Haračić monument, and is today concealed by a large, thickly overgrown and once an impressive garden with pine and palm trees, laurels and myrtles, encircled by stone walls.
After WW2 and due to the newly developed situation in the former Yugoslavia, the Villa is also mentioned under a new name - “Ljubljana”.
It is interesting to mention that at the time the Villa was constructed the sea was right in front of the garden, but due to land filling for an Ambroz Haračić Park, the sea moved away from the garden of the Villa for about ten meters. 
 

Villa “MIRASOLE”

The Villa is situated between the most famous Čikat villa, “Carola”, and Villa “Hygeia”. It was built between 1903 and 1904, somewhat before Villa Hygeia, on an attractive location with a terraced garden abundant with palm and agave trees.
It is mentioned in 1907 tourist guides as the Mirasole Pension.
In 1912, after minor arrangements, Mrs. Cilli Jungbauer is mentioned as the owner, whereas after 1932 the owner becomes Maria Stenta-Martinolić from Mali Lošinj.
After WW2 and the process of nationalization, the Villa was used for an Office of the main island hotel company – “Jadranka”.
Today the Villa is in a very poor state, awaiting rearrangement by the new owner.

Villa “CAROLA”

The most beautiful villa in Lošinj, and, according to some, on the entire Adriatic Coast, is situated on the central part of the Čikat Cove. The architect was the Viennese neoclassicist designer Rudolf Goebel.
The construction began in 1899 and was finished in 1900.
It was designed as an actual private countryside villa with a representative private pier for a yacht. Its royal style and appearance are evident so many stories are associated with it, involving the Tsar, Franz Joseph and his mistress, although the villa is registered as the property of a certain Agnes Hasenohrl.
The interior was very luxurious, with a variety of sumptuous details, unusual for a summer house. At the time it was built, it encompassed the highest standard of organizational, installation and technological solutions used in a house – an electrical generating unit, filters and a pump for freefalling running drinking water, a wine-cellar, an elevator, a laundry room and an ironing room, a winter garden.., etc.
Its architecture is uniquely neohistoric, while the garden’s horticulture is of a historical style, with multilevel terraces obtained through artificial land filling. The garden is abundant with exotic trees – yucca and palm trees, agaves and rose-bay, rosemary, myrtle and heather bushes, etc. In the right corner there is also a nice house for the servants, right next to the Northern fence.
The Villa is one of the most common motifs on postcards and photographs of all eras.
It was built in a neohistoric style and spirit of summer houses of the Austrian shores (“Kustenland”). From the names it was given, the ones that are known are “Hasenohrl” and “Karolina”.
Today, the Villa has been completely renovated, together with the garden and the fence, thereby representing an ornament of the entire Cove and providing the tourists with a great attraction and a motive for visiting.

Villa “PAOLA”

It is a one-storey Mediterranean-style villa which, if looking from the sea, from the Ambroz Haračić monument, is situated on the right side of the Southern slope.  The first photographs show that in the beginning the sea was right in front of the Villa, buts was later, after land filling operations in the bay, replaced by a park, the sea retreating for about ten meters. It is not known exactly when it was built, or who designed it, but archival records contain a mention of it around 1909, under the name Villa “Paola”. The tourist guide from 1912-1913 already mentions the “Seress” Pension owned by Antoinette Seress. Between the two wars, the Villa is maintained under the name Paula. After WW2, the Villa was annexed and adapted for leasing purposes to the tourists, as well as obtaining a new name – Villa “Zadar”.

Villa “JOSEFS”

One-story villa was built in 1908. as fifth in a row in Čikat bay (today, left from the «Alhambra» hotel, built in 1912). It was built in a secession style and was first named St. Josefs Villa, and it was a pension with top-offer Vienna culinary and rooms with sea water. It was decorated with a garden contaning tall pines and palm-trees.
After the World War II. the name has been changed to villa «Beograd», but in  1993 it gets it's final name villa «Augusta».