Little Vienna on the sea
Strolling through the city center, you'll sometimes feel as if you're in Vienna, Prague or Budapest. Some of the palace facades erected in the 19th century, when Trieste was under the protection of the Habsburg eagle, remind visitors that the city was not always Italian. In the 14th century, Trieste, coveted and encircled by the territories of its long-standing enemy, Venice and its Republic, voluntarily joined the powerful Habsburg Empire, which saw its access to the sea as a godsend. Proclaimed a free port by Charles VI in 1719 and exempt from taxes, its spectacular economic boom attracted a massive influx of Greek and Serbian merchants. Lined by wide, straight avenues, Trieste's opulent facades display the pride of having been one of Europe's most influential ports, with a superimposition of Baroque, Empire, Neoclassical and Art Nouveau styles. The Habsburg ambience of the buildings and the bohemian spirit of this city with its Mitteleuropa flavour can be felt in its subtle mix of styles.
Piazza Unità d'Italia
Opening onto the sea, Europe's largest square (10,000m2) is also one of its most beautiful. The Piazza Unità d'Italia celebrates Trieste's return to Italy in 1918, after more than five centuries as an Austro-Hungarian protectorate. It is extended by a superb pier: the Molo Audace. The central square is beautifully unified, with elegant Baroque and Austro-Hungarian buildings of neoclassical inspiration, with touches of Art Nouveau that give an idea of its former power. Among the buildings surrounding the square is the Government Palace, designed by Viennese architect Emil Artman and built between 1901 and 1905. Its fascinating façade, glittering with Murano glass mosaics, features motifs, allegorical portraits and the Savoy cross. Facing the sea stands the majestic Palazzo del Municipio, the town hall with its bell tower, designed by Triestine architect Giuseppe Bruni. Observe the structured facade with its tight rows of windows, topped by a clock tower where two bronze figures, Jakeze and Mikeze, have been beating the hours since 1876. On September 18, 1938, from the central balcony of City Hall, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini announced to a huge crowd gathered in Piazza Unità d'Italia the introduction of Fascist racial laws in Italy. In front of the town hall stands the Fountain of the Four Continents. Created by architect Mazzoleni, this Baroque fountain, completed in 1754, represents the world as it was then known. Four statues represent the inhabitants of the four continents (Europe, Asia, Africa and America). Piazza Unità d'Italia is also where you'll find the classicist Palazzo Stratti. It houses the Caffè degli Specchi (Café of Mirrors), the bourgeois HQ of the British Navy during the Second World War. A symbol of Trieste's domination of the sea, the facades of the Lloyd Triestino Palazzo, designed in the Italian Renaissance style, are a must-see. Finally, the Palace of the Austrian Lieutenancy, one of the most important under Habsburg rule, stands out with its monumental entrance and its mosaics depicting the coat of arms of the House of Savoy.
Teresiano neighborhood
The city center, known as Borgo Teresiano, is one of the oldest districts. Commissioned by Maria Theresa, the first Empress of Austria, in the mid-18th century, it was built in a checkerboard pattern based on a Central European city. With its strict angles and rectilinear layout, Borgo Teresiano is one of the earliest examples of late 18th-century modern urban planning. This neoclassical district, built on abandoned salt works, met the growing demand of the bourgeoisie living in the city. Its streamlined buildings adorned with marble balconies bear witness to the city's rich past. Designed by fashionable architects and artists such as Matteo Pertsch, Pietro Nobile and Cesare dell'Acqua, the imposing buildings feature a high first floor, a large central door for vehicular access and private residences on the upper floors. The stock exchange, the opera house, the town hall square, the railway station and the red-brick Art Deco building of the Generali Reali Estate are representative examples of this cosmopolitan architecture with Italian features and influenced by 19th-century Viennese architecture. The focal point of the district is the Canal Grande, dug out between 1754 and 1756, a modern port that allows ships to reach the city center and unload their goods. The sea reaches inland as far as the neoclassical Sant'Antonio Taumaturgo church. The spectacular stone structure and unique shape of the quays and Canal Grande are a tribute to Trieste's maritime trade, which reigned unchallenged on this sea.
Many places of worship
Thanks to Maria Theresa's tolerant policy of freedom of worship, the Catholic, Orthodox (Greek and Serbian) and Jewish communities live together peacefully. In the city center, a Catholic church, a synagogue, a Serbian Orthodox church and a Greek Orthodox church, almost facing each other, embody the perfect example of the "vivre-ensemble" that characterizes Trieste. In 1784, the Greeks built an imposing Orthodox church, San Nicolò dei Greci, whose façade was redesigned in 1820 by architect Matteo Pertsch in neoclassical style. Inside, the richly gilded iconostasis is impressive. Near the Grand Canal, look out for the superb Church of the Holy Trinity and St. Spiridion, built in 1869 for the Serbian Orthodox community by Carlo Maciachini, an advocate of "historic styles". The building, inspired by Byzantine architecture, is topped by a large blue central dome. The façade, with its mosaics, recalls the Italian Romanesque style.
A key symbol of Trieste's Christian religiosity, the spectacular 14th-century Cattedrale di San Giusto is built on the ruins of an ancient temple on the San Giusto hill, once the heart of the medieval quarter. Its façade, dominated by a rose window, is adorned with frescoes, mosaics and sculptures. The sober, elegant concrete synagogue was built in 1912 by architects Ruggero and Arduino Berlam. One of the most imposing Jewish buildings in Europe, its decoration is influenced by certain Eastern Christian edifices.
Historical cafés
From its Viennese past, Trieste, the Mediterranean's leading port for coffee imports, has preserved some superb literary cafés with high ceilings. True institutions for Triestinians, these 19th-century cafés have stood the test of time. Most of them are close to via Roma, the Canal Grande and the quays. Have a "nero" at the sumptuous carved-wood bar of theantico caffè San Marco, an institution with Viennese decor in the purest Secession style. Admire the Liberty style and original furnishings of the Antico Caffè Torinese and enjoy a Viennese coffee in the city's oldest café: the Caffè Tommaseo, opened in 1825 and superbly decorated by the painter Gatteri.
Trieste presents to its visitors all its memories
Following Austria's defeat in the First World War, "irredentist" patriots forcibly annexed Trieste to Italy. To erase the port's cosmopolitan identity and erase its Austrian past, the Fascist regime used architecture as a propaganda tool. The aim was to "Italianize" Trieste's public spaces and minds. The police headquarters, port and political infrastructures were built according to the Fascist model: very large buildings in concrete and white marble, with grandiloquent architecture and powerful arches and columns, like the University. These buildings from the 1920s and 1930s stand side by side with those from the 18th and 19th centuries, in an architectural eclecticism that is now Trieste's hallmark. The Risiera di San Sabba also bears witness to the painful memory of Fascism. Built in 1898 for stacking rice, the building was used by the Nazis to eliminate Jews and political opponents from Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. In 1966, architect Romano Boico was chosen by the municipality to transform the Risiera into a place of remembrance. He added concrete structures to the original site. The museum has 17 holding cells and a library.
The surroundings of Trieste are worth a look
8 kilometers from the city, overlooking the Adriatic Sea and magnificently surrounded by a large park with flattering vegetation, the white castle of Miramare looks like something out of a fairy tale. Built by architect Carl Junker between 1856 and 1860 in an eclectic style, it combines Baroque, Romanesque and Renaissance elements. With its 20 rooms designed in the style of Romantic historicism, castello di Miramare was the vacation home of Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg-Lorraine and his wife, Princess Charlotte of Belgium. Between 1869 and 1896, his niece Empress Elisabeth, better known as Sissi, stayed here 14 times.
Ten kilometers from Trieste stands the Castello di Duino. Superbly restored and overlooking the Gulf of Trieste, it was built in the 14th century on the ruins of a Roman outpost. In 1911 and 1912, the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke stayed here and began writing the Elegies of Duino.
Palmanova, 47 km from Trieste, is a masterpiece of military architecture. Designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, this fortified city in the shape of a 9-pointed star was built in 1593 by the Republic of Venice, which used the latest military innovations to protect itself from its rivals, the Austrian Habsburgs and the Turks. Featuring three defensive circles, its vast parade ground is spectacular. Extremely well preserved, Palmanova has been a Unesco World Heritage site since 2017.
