The port of Trieste, capital of the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, lies on the Gulf of Trieste, framed by the precipitous slopes of a limestone plateau, in the northeast corner of the Adriatic.
Importance
Trieste is an important port in the Adriatic. With a greatly increased capacity since its reconstruction after war damage, it has gained considerably in importance compared with the pre-war period as a transshipment point for goods from Central Europe and the Danube region (particularly Austria). An annual Trade Fair is held in Trieste.
Trieste, the Roman Tergeste, was held by Austria from 1382 until 1919. It was made a free port by the Emperor Charles VI in 1719, and from the end of the 18th century, after the construction of an artificial harbor, it captured the trade with the Near East which had been dominated by Venice for more than 500 years. As the last harbor of any size left to Austria Trieste developed into the leading commercial town in the Adriatic, particularly after the construction of the Semmering railroad line (1854) and the new port installations to the north of the town (1867-83). After the First World War the town, mainly inhabited by Italians, was assigned to Italy and thus lost its hinterland; but the consequent decline in trade was made good by the large-scale development of industry. Under the Allied treaty with Italy in 1947 the territory immediately bordering on Trieste, with a predominantly Slav population, was ceded to Yugoslavia and the town itself (in Serbo-Croat Trst) together with part of the Istrian peninsula became a free state under the United Nations, divided into two zones. On the basis of a later treaty between Italy and Yugoslavia (October fifth 1954) Zone A and the town of Trieste were returned to Italian administration (and finally incorporated in Italy in 1963), while Zone B was assigned to Yugoslavia. Since 1962 Trieste has been the capital of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.
On top of the castle hill in Trieste the Castello (15th-17th centuries) contains the interesting Castle Museum, with medieval weapons, furniture, tapestries, etc. From the Castello and from the Parco delle Rimembranza on the north side of the castle hill there are fine views of the town and the sea.
Cattedrale di San Giusto was created by combining existing churches and a baptistery. The cathedral features Roman remains in the doorway and campanile, and high quality 7th to 12th C mosaics.
Farther along the quay from the Teatro Verdi, on the right, is the Greek church of San Nicolò dei Greci, and farther north again is the Canale Grande (1756), the harbor formerly used by sailing ships.
To the southwest of the Roman Theater in Trieste is the castle hill. Half-way up the hill, on the right, is the small Protestant church of San Silvestro (11th century), and opposite it, on the left, the Jesuit church of Santa Maria Maggiore (1627-82), with a Baroque interior.
From the Old Exchange the Corso Italia, the town's principal traffic artery, lined with modern buildings, runs east to the busy Piazza Goldoni, which is linked with the industrial suburbs to the south by a tunnel 347m/380yd long under the castle hill and another tunnel 1,000m/1,094yd long.
On the west side of Trieste lies the harbor, which has no natural anchorage and is exposed to strong northeast winds (the bora) blowing down from the plateau. To the north the Punta Franco Vecchio (Old Free Port) has four piers and a long breakwater. To the south, beyond the Campo Marzio station, are the Punta Franco Nuovo (New Free Port) and the industrial zone, with a number of large shipyards.
At the corner of the Piazza Venezia is the Museo Civico Revoltella, one of Italy's major museums of modern art, with more than a thousand paintings, 800 sculptures as well as prints and drawings. It covers six floors and 40 rooms.
Address: Museo Civico Revoltella, Via Armando Diaz 27, I-34123 Trieste, Italy
Hours:
September 1 to July 19: 9am-6pm; Sun:10am-6pm; Closed: Tue
A short distance to the east of Sant'Antonio the Via G. Carducci runs northwest from near the castle hill to the Piazza Oberdan, the main square of the newer part of the town. In this square is the Museo Civico del Risorgimento. From the Piazza Oberdan we can go north by tram to the Piazza Scorcola, with the lower station of an electric funicular to Villa Opicina. From the Piazza Oberdan the Via Fabio Severo leads past the massive Palazzo di Giustizia to the university, built in 1939-50.
Address: Museo Civico del Risorgimento, Via XXIV Maggio 4, I-34133 Trieste, Italy
Near the Museo di Storia Naturale is the Museo Sartorio, which contains ceramics, majolica, porcelain and pictures, typical equipment of Trieste's villas at the end of the 19th century.
Address: Museo Sartorio, Largo Papa Giovanni XXIII, I-34121 Trieste, Italy
From the Arco di Ricardo it is only a few steps to the Museo di Storia e d'Arte, in Via Cattedrale 15, which contains antiquities of varying provenance, including Roman and medieval vases, sculptures and grave-inscriptions.
Address: Museo di Storia e d'Arte, Palazzo Economo Piazza della Libertà 7, I-34121 Trieste, Italy
Hours:
am-am; Closed: Sun
Always closed on: Epiphany (3 Kings' Day ) - Christian (January 6), New Year's Day (January 1), Liberation Day - Italy (April 25), May Day / Labor Day (May 1), Festival of the Tricolor - Italy (May 12), Feast of St John the Baptist - Christian (June 24), Assumption Day - Christian (August 15), Victory Day / National Unity Day - Italy (November 4), All Saints' Day - Christian (November 1), Day after Christmas, St Stephen's Day, Boxing Day (December 26), Christmas - Christian (December 25), Easter - Christian, Good Friday - Christian, Easter Monday - Christian
Beyond the Museo Civico Revoltella is the Piazza A. Hortis. On the southeast side of the square are the Museum of Natural History (Museo di Storia Naturale) and the Municipal Library.
Address: Museo di Storia Naturale, Piazza Hortis 4, I-34123 Trieste, Italy
On the pier to the south of the Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia is the Marine Station, and farther along the quay the Pescheria (Fish Market), with an interesting Aquarium. Beyond this lies the Piazza Venezia.
The largest square in the older part of Trieste is the Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia, on the Old Harbor. On its north side is the Palazzo del Governo (1904), on the south side the massive palazzo (1882-83) of Lloyd Triestino, a shipping line founded in 1836 as the Austrian Lloyd company, and on the east side the Town Hall (Palazzo del Municipio; 1876).
At the end of the canal (Canale Grande) we come to the Neo-Classical church of Sant'Antonio (1849), Trieste's largest church. To the right of this is the Serbian Orthodox church of San Spiridione.
Southeast of the Town Hall in Trieste is the broad Via del Teatro Romano, at the east end of which towers the Grattacielo ("Skyscraper"). To the right of this is the Roman Theater (Teatro Romano; A.D. second century), which was excavated in 1938. Some of the fine marble statues from the stage of the theater are now in the Museum of History and Art.
Northeast of the Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia, along the quay, stands the Teatro Verdi, with the Theater Museum. From the pier opposite the theater, on the left, the Molo Audace, there are good views of the town and the harbor.
On a crag above the sea, stands the Castello di Miramare, built in 1855-60 for Archduke Maximilian of Austria, later briefly emperor of Mexico. Now owned by the State, it houses a historical museum. From the terrace and the park (bronze statue of Maximilian) there are magnificent views of the sea, here protected as a nature reserve, the Parco Marino di Miramare, with the interesting flora and fauna of the northern Adriatic.
Castello di Miramare.
Walkway to Castello di Miramare.
Address: Castello di Miramare, Viale Miramare, I-34014 Miramare, Italy
2.5km/1.5mi northwest of Trieste, above Barcola (5m/17ft) rises the 68m/224ft-high Victory Beacon, erected in 1927, from which there are beautiful views (open throughout the day).
7km/4.5mi along the coast of the Gulf of Trieste is the little port and seaside resort of Duino, where Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) wrote his "Duino Elegies". The Castel Nuovo (destroyed 1916, rebuilt 1929 onwards: no admission) and the picturesque ruins of the Castel Vecchio are magnificently situated on a projecting crag (fine views). Near the castle is the International Center of Theoretical Physics.
7km/4.5mi from Duino is Monfalcone (6m/20ft; pop. 30,000), a port and industrial town in the foothills of the karstic plateau. Continuing on S.S. 305 we come to the military cemetery of Redipuglia, finely situated on the slopes of Monte Sei Busi (118m/389ft), with the graves of 100,000 men who fell in the First World War.
Beyond Duino the village of San Giovanni al Timavo (4m/13ft) has a 15th century Gothic church, San Giovanni in Tuba, containing the remains of a mosaic pavement belonging to an earlier basilica of the fifth-sixth centuries. At San Giovanni the River Timavo, with an abundant flow of water, emerges after an underground course of 40km/25mi from the caves of Skocjan in the former Yugoslavia, and soon afterwards flows into the sea.
From Duino the Rilke Promenade leads along the coast of the "Riviera Triestina" to Sistiana in the south. For many years this path was unusable, but has recently been repaired.
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Cattedrale di San Giusto
Castello di Miramare, Trieste
Castello di Miramare, Trieste
