Trieste, Italy

... More

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.

History

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.