Welcome to Trieste!
We would like to start with a poem by Umberto Saba because probably is the best description of the soul of this city, it’s better than any tourist guide.
Trieste
(from Trieste e una donna, 1910-12)
I've walked the entire city.
Then I've climbed a hill
dense at first, but empty further on,
closed in by a low stone wall:
I sit alone in one of its nooks
and it seems to me that where it ends
the city ends as well.
Trieste has an irritating
grace. At best,
it's like some mean, delinquent kid
with blue eyes and hands too big
to give anyone a flower;
it's like love jealousy infects.
From the hill i can see
all the churches, and every street
that leads to the obstructed beach,
or across to another hill
where the last house
clings to the stony top.
Everywhere the air moves
it feels strangely troubled
like the air of being home.
My city that's alive in all its parts
has a place for me,
for my removed, reflective life.
This is only one of the many poems written for Trieste by Italian or foreign poets like James Joyce or Rainer Maria Rilke. These people got attracted by the atmosphere of this very peculiar city, Italian but with a soul made of a melting pot of cultures coming from all over the World, especially from Central Europe, Balkans, Armenia, Greece and many other Mediterranean countries. That is because Trieste was a great harbour (actually the main harbour of the Austrian Empire). All these people got rich and enriched the city itself, thanks to transports, insurance business (Generali, one of biggest insurance company in the world, was founded here), banks and so on. We don’t know what you expect from Trieste but for sure this is not a typical Italian city. Trieste is a fusion of cultures and traditions: Austrian city planning, Neoclassical style, central European food, Italian history. Trieste is a city and port in North-Eastern Italy right on the border with Slovenia. It is located in the heart of the Gulf of Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. With a population of 210 000 it is the capital of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trieste province. The city stands out over the blue sea and sky on the furthest patch of the Italian Adriatic and appears like a last Mediterranean mirage for those following this northern stretch of the coast. Trieste’s originality and diversity are brought together in every street, square and palace which almost entirely retain their testimony to Roman, Venetian and above all Neoclassical architecture. Culture variety in Trieste is also visible from many different churches built in the city centre: you can spot catholic churches, Serbian-Orthodox, Greek-Orthodox, Lutheran and the Synagogue (one of the biggest in Italy). The crossroad of cultures animating this Julian regional capital is expressed through a rich and extremely varied museum network, a large number of cafés (meeting places for all walks of life) and literary thoroughfares where you can relive the experiences of Svevo, Saba and Joyce.
A little bit of history…
Roman age Trieste initially flourished as Roman colony on the top of San Giusto Hill. Many ancient Roman monuments are still visible like the Theatre, the Gate of Riccardo and the Forum.
Middle age The city continued to develop on the hill even after the falling of the Roman Empire. It become an independent common, but in the 13th century its rulers opted to join the Haupsburg Empire rather than paying fealty to the Republic of Venice (70 miles to the west).
Haupsburg age But the real flourishing of Trieste began in 1719, when the city was declared a free port by Emperor Charles VI. His successor, Maria Theresa of Austria, decided to build a new city at the base of San Giusto Hill on lands once used as salt mines. The ‘New City’ corresponds to the actual city centre, characterized by the choose of the Neoclassic style in its architecture and its city planning. However, a Viennese atmosphere can also be felt walking around the city centre. Trieste’s role as the main Austrian commercial port and shipbuilding centre was later emphasized by the Foundation of the Austrian Lloyd in 1836 and the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway, connecting Wien to Trieste thanks to an extraordinary work of engineering, completed in 1857. The opening of Suez Channel in 1869 had an extraordinary impact on the growth of the city and of its harbour. In the beginning of the 20th century, Trieste was a buzzing cosmopolitan city frequented by artists such as James Joyce, Italo Svevo and Umberto Saba. In the city was spoken the Venetian dialect called Triestino, Italian and other many other tongues including German and Slovenian.
Annexation to Italy Together with Trento, Trieste was the main seat of the irredendist movement, which aimed to the annexation to Italy of all the lands historically inhabited by culturally Italian people. After World War I ended and Austria-Hungary disintegrated, Trieste joined Italy (1920) along with the whole Julian March (Venezia Giulia). The annexation, however, diminished the importance of the city which was not anymore the Austrian Harbour.
Second world war After the armistice (September 8th) Trieste was annexed by Germans to the Adriatische Kuesterland, integral part of the Third Reich. The city also suffered from Tito’s partisan activity and from Allied bombardments. After Liberation Trieste, dubbed A Zone, was governed for several years by the Allied Military Government whereas the southern part of Venezia-Giulia and Istria, dubbed B zone, went under Yugoslavian administration. Trieste went back to Italy (or Italy went back to Trieste as we use to say) only on 26 October 1954, but B zone remained under Yugoslavian control and is now part of Slovenia and Croatia.
History and art on the streets of Trieste…
It’s the heart of Trieste, a beautiful square opened to the sea with precious palaces all around. A magnificent waterfront where everybody love walk, have a chat and to breathe good salty sea breeze. This square (Piazza Unità d’Italia) is the largest square in Europe overlooking the sea. The Victory’s lighthouse is designed by architect Berlam in 1927 to commemorate first world world casualities and Italian victory over Austria, this breath-taking lighthouse has the shape of a column and a bold statue of the goddess Victory on its top. In the picture there is “Barcolana event”, the most crowded sailing boat race in the world (more than 2000 boats).
Home of Maximilian of Habsburg, younger brother of Franz Joseph, and his young wife Charlotte. The castle of Miramare was built between 1856 and 1860 by the well-known architect Junker. Undoubtedly an enchanted palace, where each museum room is surrounded by an aura of romantic sadness. On the top of the hill centre of the old medieval town, rises up the old Romanic style Basilica, the Castle of S. Giusto and the ancient Roman Forum. It is a tourist hot-spot and a nice viewpoint to the city.
Some news about Trieste
Trieste is one of the few cities nestled right between the mountains and the sea: The rugged hill area, the Carso, rises up close to the city and is composed mostly of calcareous rock which quickly leaves way to the more welcoming Mediterranean climate of the coast. A legacy of Empress Maria Theresa who, by an edict issued in the XVIII century, still allows farmers to sell visitors their homemade wine and food. The term Osmiza comes from the Slovenian word osem (eight), which was the duration of the licence to sell home-made products. Along the Carso roads among the villages and near some of the houses, follow the numerous "frasche" or "bushes", branches of unmistakably indicating an osmiza.
