TRAVEL TO… TRIESTE, ITALY
Adriatic outpost of empires
There’s a distinctive “otherness” to this coastal city. Trieste sits on a thin finger of Italian soil curled around the head of the Adriatic Sea, close to the border with Slovenia and about 25 miles from Croatia. It has a very singular history – albeit one touched by many European powers, having been under the influence of the Roman,Byzantine and Venetian empires.
Long a Habsburg possession, Trieste was an important outpost of this central European powerhouse. With its deep-water port and rail links to destinations across Europe, it was a key transport hub and a fashionable resort in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Annexed by Italy in the aftermath of the First World War, Trieste emerged from the Second World War as an independent territory under the protection of the UN, becoming part of Italy once more in 1954.
This complex legacy has endowed Trieste with an unusual patchwork of sites to explore. The city centre and waterfront have an unmistakably central-European air, with the vast, sea-facing Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia bearing the hallmarks of Austro-Hungarian urban design. The Borgo Teresiano area around the Canal Grande is studded with elegant 18th and 19th-century mansions, cafes and shops. Here also is the atmospheric Chiesa di Santo Spiridione, a vast Byzantine-style Orthodox church frequented by Trieste’s large Serbian population.
There are several excellent museums to discover. The Risiera di San Sabba, a former rice plant used as a Nazi concentration camp during the Second World War, is now a moving memorial. Museo Revoltella, an unusual collection of modern art and sculpture founded by a 19th-century businessman, is housed in his former residence. And James Joyce, who lived in Trieste from 1904–20, is commemorated with a statue and a museum shared with his friend, local-born writer Italo Svevo. Alternatively, simply stroll the boulevards, piazzas and waterfront, pondering the city’s place in European history, ancient and modern.
IF YOU LIKE THIS…
● Ljubljana, Slovenia’s compact, bustling capital, is a short journey from Trieste.
● A port city with thousands of years of history? You could also be in Marseille, France.