Discovering the Enchanted Kingdom of Trieste: A Journey Through History and Art
Umberto Saba wrote this about his home country: “It has a rough elegance. If you like it, he’s like a hungry, hungry bad boy with blue eyes and big hands that can’t hold a flower, like a jealous lover.”
But he isn’t the only one who has been moved by the beauty of Trieste, a city with about 206,000 people that is the capital of Friuli Venezia Giulia, over the years.
People like this lovely hidden gem because the gulf and the old buildings are so beautiful. Il Sole 24 Ore named it the best place to live in Italy in 2005 and 2009.
In the northeastern part of Italy, where the foot sticks out into Slovenia like a tongue, the city fits in like a stranded pearl from a magical land.
Trieste looks out over the gulf that gives it its name and is washed by the Upper Adriatic. Hills make up most of Trieste’s land. The Carso plateau forms a steep cliff behind Trieste. At its highest point, it is 458 meters high, which is both comforting and mysterious.
This is the situation where important political issues have been discussed for years and years, leading to times of high tension and conflict: the people who live in Trieste know that their identity is not something to be taken for granted, and they know how painful it is to feel like everyone and no one cares about them.
People still talk about 1954, when the idea that they could go back to Italy seemed like a mirage. But the city on the border now knows how important that time was.
Trieste responded to a time of uncertainty and shifting points of reference by giving the world many brilliant intellectuals, thinkers, and artists, from James Joyce to Rainer Maria Rilke, from Saba to Svevo, going through Slataper, and many more.
Even now, the old cafes still smell like poetry, art, literature, and political arguments.
When you get to Trieste from the port, you’ll want to hug it as soon as you see it. It’s so beautiful and graceful on the Gulf. In reality, you can’t understand it all at once.
The city is in the shape of a half-circle between the Sant’Andrea promontory and Portonuovo. In the front, there is a long row of houses and palaces, which is broken up by a group of streets that go into the button center.
Only in Portonovo does the Grand Canal cut a 300-meter hole in the middle of the city. This makes for one of the most beautiful views of Trieste, where ships rest on the water surrounded by streets, houses, and people looking on.
It would be arrogant to try to sum up all of Trieste’s architectural, historical, and artistic marvels in a few sentences, but you can try to do justice to an enchanted and welcoming kingdom where every view will amaze you with a precious detail.
Trieste’s Landmarks
The castle of Miramare is a beautiful piece of art that you should see if you are in Trieste. It was made by the Austrian architect Carl Junker and took four years to finish. It opened in 1856.
Massimiliano was the client. He wanted to build a manor so that he and his family could live in a quiet, elegant place that was close to both the city and nature.
On the ground floor, you can still see the private apartments of Maximilian and Charlotte of Belgium. Their bedroom and study are very unique. The two rooms are designed to look like the cabin of the military ship Novara, which went around the world from 1857 to 1859.
Do not miss the library, the throne room, or the room with paintings by Cesare Dell’Acqua. The furniture in these rooms is mostly original. Also, don’t miss the old greenhouses, the stables, and the garden.
Not far from the castle, it is worth a visit to the Immaginario Scientifico, a very entertaining science museum for families with children.
Cathedral of San Giusto
The Cathedral of San Giusto is the best religious building by a long shot. It has changed a lot over the years, and you can still see the scars of all the changes made by different people.
The church as we see it now has a gable roof, a large rose window, a statue of San Giusto, several coats of arms, and a large doorway made from a Roman tombstone.
Next to it is a square bell tower with mosaic floors from the 5th century and mosaics from the 20th century put next to each other.
Colle San Giusto
But Colle San Giusto is the oldest and has the most monuments. It is where Trieste’s history began, and as you go up the hill on Via Capitolina, you pass the 1930s-built Parco della Rimembranza. It is not a park like any other, but a place of memory steeped in memories, crowded with tombstones of different sizes with the names of the fallen in the two world wars.
Like any city of art, where culture comes first, Trieste has a number of interesting museums, among which the Sea Museum stands out: it is one of the main museums dedicated to the sea in Italy, and its foundation dates back to the Culture of Fishing and Fish, born at the end of the 19th century to encourage the development of fishing in these areas of the Adriatic. It is now a large collection that shows how navigation began and how it has changed over time.
But the city’s love of culture is also clear in the events it puts on all year: the Electroblog, which is all about electronic music; the Trieste Film Festival, which is in January; the Oil Fair Capital, which is in March; the Triskell Celtic Festival, which is at the end of June; the Barcolana Regatta, which is in October; and the Triskell, which is a very picturesque Celtic festival and is in June.
Since 2007, the “Città di Trieste” National Literary Award has been held in the city. Last but not least, let’s not forget that there are Christmas markets that are as good as any in central Europe.
Trieste is a very important city, so getting there is not hard no matter where you are or how you travel. Those driving can take the A4 from Venice-Mestre or the A23 from Tarvisio-Austria and get off at the Lisert tollbooth. From there, they can take the SS14, which goes straight to the city center.
If you want to take the train, the Trieste station is right in the historic center, near a lot of hotels. The “Ronchi dei Legionari” airport is about 33 km away and has daily flights to the main Italian cities, including Munich Airport and London Airport. On the other hand, there are airports about 120 km away in Venice and 90 km away in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Once you reach your destination, you will be greeted by a mild climate—mild in the winter thanks to the proximity of the sea and warm but not muggy in the summer. In January, which is the coldest month, the average temperatures range from 3°C to 7°C. In July, they range from 20°C to 28°C.
Between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, more than 100 mm of rain falls each month. Trieste is known all over the world for its strong gusts of wind, which can reach speeds of more than 100 km/h in the winter. Visit the Bora Museum at the Fabbrica dei Venti to learn more about the subject.
