CASTELLO DI SAN GIUSTO

Situated on the top of the hill of San Giusto, this fortress guarantees grandiose panoramas from its bastions. It was built between 1468 and 1636 in four phases. The first building, called the Casa del Capitano, was erected in 1468 to serve as the residence of the Imperial Captain, the Austrian Emperor's representative in Trieste. During the brief domination of the Venetians, in 1508 and 1509, a circular bastion (the Venetian Bastion) was added. Between 1553 and 1561, the Austrians erected the polygonal Lalio Bastion to complete the fortress' defenses towards the sea. Finally, in 1636, the bastion Pomis, turned inland, concluded the work. The visit begins in the vestibule that leads to the courtyard of the castle, where stone coats of arms from medieval Trieste are displayed. There are also the originals of the two zinc jacquemarts that strike the hours on the clock tower of the Palazzo del Municipio (in Piazza Unità d'Italia). The central courtyard or Cortile delle Milizie features 16th century artillery pieces. The Casa del Capitano houses the Civico Museo del Castello with art collections on the second floor and the armory and access to the battlements on the second. In the basement of the bastion Lalio, the lapidarium presents relics of the Roman antiquity, including fragments of statues that adorned the theater of Tergeste and mosaics from a Roman villa discovered in Barcola.