Trieste

View of Trieste

The territory of Trieste is composed of several different climate zones depending on the distance from the sea and elevation. The average temperatures (1971–2000) are 5.7 °C (42 °F) in January and 24.1 °C (75 °F) in July.[8] It has a humid subtropical climate (according to the Köppen climate classification). On average, humidity levels are low (~65%), while only two months (January and February) receive slightly less than 60 mm (2 in) of precipitation.

Trieste, like the Istrian Peninsula, has evenly distributed rainfall above 1,000 mm (39 in) in total; it is noteworthy that no true summer drought occurs. Snow occurs on average 0–2 days per year.[9] Temperatures are very mild; lows below 0° are somewhat rare and highs above 30 °C (86 °F) are not common. Maximum Winter highs are lower than the average temperatures in the Mediterranean zone (~ 5–11 °C) but with quite high minimums (~2–8 °C). Two basic weather patterns alternate — sunny, windy and often very cold days frequently caused a northeastern wind called Bora, as well as rainy days with temperatures of about 6 to 11 °C (43 to 52 °F). Summer is very warm with highs of about 28 °C (82 °F) and lows above 20 °C (68 °F), with hot nights being influenced by the warm sea water. The highest temperature of the last 30 years is 40.1 °C (104 °F) in 2020, whereas the absolute minimum was −7.9 °C (18 °F) in 1996.

The Trieste area is divided into 8a–10a zones according to USDA hardiness zoning; Villa Opicina (320 to 420 MSL) with 8a in upper suburban area down to 10a in especially shielded and windproof valleys close to the Adriatic sea.

The climate can be severely affected by the Bora, a very dry and usually cool north-to-northeast katabatic wind that can last for some days and reach speeds of up to 140 km/h (87 mph) on the piers of the port, thus sometimes bringing subzero temperatures to the entire city.[10]

Arco di Riccardo, a Roman triumphal arch constructed from 33-32 BC

Since the second millennium BC, the location was an inhabited site. Originally an Illyrian settlement, the Veneti entered the region in the 10th–9th c. BC and seem to have given the town its name, Tergeste, since terg* is a Venetic word meaning market (q.v. Oderzo whose ancient name was Opitergium). Later, the town was captured by the Carni, a tribe of the Eastern Alps, before becoming part of the Roman republic in 177 BC during the Second Istrian War.[12]

After being attacked by barbarians from the interior in 52 BC,[13] until 46 BC it was granted the status of Roman colony under Julius Caesar, who recorded its name as Tergeste in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (51 BC), in which he recounts events of the Gallic Wars.[14]

In imperial times the border of Roman Italy moved from the Timavo River to Formione (today Risano). Roman Tergeste flourished due to its position on the road from Aquileia, the main Roman city in the area, to Istria, and as a port, some ruins of which are still visible. Emperor Augustus built a line of walls around the city in 33–32 BC, while Trajan built a theatre in the 2nd century. At the same time, the citizens of the town were enrolled in the tribe Pupinia. In 27 BC, Trieste was incorporated in Regio X of Augustan Italia.[15]

In the early Christian era Trieste continued to flourish. Between 138 and 161 AD, its territory was enlarged and nearby Carni and Catali were granted Roman citizenship by the Roman Senate and Emperor Antoninus Pius at the pleading of a leading Tergestine citizen, the quaestor urbanus, Fabius Severus.[16]

Already at the time of the Roman Empire there was a fishing village called Vallicula ("small valley") in the Barcola area. Remains of richly decorated Roman villas, including wellness facilities, piers and extensive gardens suggest that Barcola was already a place for relaxation among the Romans because of its favourable microclimate, as it was located directly on the sea and protected from the Bora. At that time, Pliny the Elder mentioned the vines of the wine Pulcino ("Vinum Pucinum" - probably today's "Prosecco"), which were grown on the slopes.[17]

The city was witness to the Battle of the Frigidus in the Vipava Valley in AD 394, in which Theodosius I defeated Eugenius. Despite the deposition of Romulus Augustulus at Ravenna in 476 and the ascension to power of Odoacer in Italy, Trieste was retained by the Roman Emperor seated at Constantinople, and thus became a Byzantine military outpost. In 539, the Byzantines annexed it to the Exarchate of Ravenna, despite Trieste's being briefly taken by the Lombards in 567, during their invasion of northern Italy, it was held until the time of the coming of the Franks.

In 788, Trieste submitted to Charlemagne, who placed it under the authority of their count-bishop who in turn was under the Duke of Friùli. From 1081, the city came loosely under the Patriarchate of Aquileia, developing into a free commune by the end of the 12th century.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, Trieste became a maritime trade rival to the Republic of Venice which briefly occupied it in 1283–87, before coming under the patronage of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. After it committed a perceived offence against Venice, the Venetian State declared war against Trieste in July 1368 and by November had occupied the city. Venice intended to keep the city and began rebuilding its defences, but was forced to leave in 1372. By the Peace of Turin in 1381, Venice renounced its claim to Trieste and the leading citizens of Trieste petitioned Leopold III of Habsburg, Duke of Austria, to make Trieste part of his domains. The agreement of voluntary submission (dedizione) was signed at the castle of Graz on 30 September 1382.[18]

The city maintained a high degree of autonomy under the Habsburgs, but was increasingly losing ground as a trade hub, both to Venice and to Ragusa. In 1463, a number of Istrian communities petitioned Venice to attack Trieste. Trieste was saved from utter ruin by the intervention of Pope Pius II who had previously been bishop of Trieste. However, Venice limited Trieste's territory to three miles (4.8 kilometres) outside the city. Trieste would be assaulted again in 1468–1469 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. His sack of the city is remembered as the "Destruction of Trieste."[19] He then restored the city walls for the fourth time.[13] Trieste was fortunate to be spared another sack in 1470 by the Ottomans who burned the village of Prosecco, only about 5.3 miles (8.5 kilometres) from Trieste, while on their way to attack Friuli.[20]

Trieste in the 17th century, in a contemporary image by the Carniolan historian Johann Weikhard von Valvasor

Following an unsuccessful Habsburg invasion of Venice in the prelude to the 1508–16 War of the League of Cambrai, the Venetians occupied Trieste again in 1508, and were allowed to keep the city under the terms of the peace treaty. However, the Habsburg Empire recovered Trieste a little over one year later, when the conflict resumed. By the 18th century Trieste became an important port and commercial hub for the Austrians. In 1719, it was granted status as a free port within the Habsburg Empire by Emperor Charles VI, and remained a free port until 1 July 1791. The reign of his successor, Maria Theresa of Austria, marked the beginning of a very prosperous era for the city. Serbs settled Trieste largely in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they soon formed an influential and rich community within the city, as a number of Serb traders owned important business and had built palaces across Trieste.[21]

Palazzo Carciotti in Trieste, circa 1850

In the following decades, Trieste was briefly occupied by troops of the French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars on several occasions, in 1797, 1805 and 1809. From 1809 to 1813, Trieste was annexed into Illyrian Provinces, interrupting its status of free port and losing its autonomy. The municipal autonomy was not restored after the return of the city to the Austrian Empire in 1813. Following the Napoleonic Wars, Trieste continued to prosper as the Free Imperial City of Trieste (German: Reichsunmittelbare Stadt Triest), a status that granted economic freedom, but limited its political self-government. The city's role as Austria's main trading port and shipbuilding centre was later emphasised with the foundation of the merchant shipping line Austrian Lloyd in 1836, whose headquarters stood at the corner of the Piazza Grande and Sanità (today's Piazza Unità d'Italia). By 1913 Austrian Lloyd had a fleet of 62 ships comprising a total of 236,000 tonnes.[22] With the introduction of the constitutionalism in the Austrian Empire in 1860, the municipal autonomy of the city was restored, with Trieste becoming capital of the Austrian Littoral crown land (German: Österreichisches Küstenland).

The Stock Exchange Square in 1854

Stock market in Trieste today

With anti-clericalism on the rise in the rest of the Italian peninsula due to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardina's bellicose policies towards the church and its estates, Pope Leo XIII at times considered moving his residence to Trieste or Salzburg. However, Emperor Franz Joseph rejected the idea.[23] Trieste, along with Fiume, served as an important base for the Imperial-Royal Navy, which in the first decade of the XX century embarked on a major modernisation programme. With the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway, the first major railway in the Empire, in 1857, Trieste acquired a significant role in the trade of coal.

A view of Trieste in 1885

Trieste had long been home to Italian irredentist sentiment, as seen in the activity at Caffè Tommaseo.[24] In 1882 this fervour culminated in an attempted assassination of Emperor Franz Joseph at the hands of Wilhem Oberdank (Guglielmo Oberdan), while His Majesty was on visit in the city. The perpetrator was arrested, tried, found guilty and ultimately sentenced to death. His legacy has been regarded as worthy of martyrdom by fellow irredentists, while monarchical elements regard his actions as ignominious. The Emperor, who went on to reign for thirty-four more years, did not visit Trieste.[25]

At the beginning of the 20th century, Trieste was a bustling cosmopolitan city frequented by artists and philosophers such as James Joyce, Italo Svevo, Sigmund Freud, Zofka Kveder, Dragotin Kette, Ivan Cankar, Scipio Slataper, and Umberto Saba. The city was the major port on the "Austrian Riviera".

Italy, in return for entering World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, had been promised substantial territorial gains, which included the former Austrian Littoral and western Inner Carniola.[26] Italy therefore annexed the city of Trieste at the end of the war, in accordance with the provisions of the 1915 Treaty of London and the Italian-Yugoslav 1920 Treaty of Rapallo.[27]

In the late 1920s, following Italian fascists burning down of the Slovene cultural centre in July 1920, the Slovene militant anti-fascist organisation TIGR carried out several bomb attacks in the city centre. In 1930 and 1941, two trials of Slovene activists were held in Trieste by the fascist Special Tribunal for the Security of the State. During the 1920s and 1930s, several monumental buildings were built in the Fascist architectural style, including the impressive University of Trieste and the almost 70 m (229.66 ft) tall Victory Lighthouse (Faro della Vittoria), which became a city landmark. The economy improved in the late 1930s, and several large infrastructure projects were carried out.[28]

Many people of Jewish origin in the city were killed as Italy was co-operating with Nazi Germany, and after the Germans seized northern Italy it was used as a hub to deport Jewish citizens [29]

Yugoslav Army entering Trieste (the caption reads "Tito's Army liberated Trieste")

Following the trisection of Slovenia, starting from the winter of 1941, the first Slovene Partisans appeared in Trieste province, although the resistance movement did not become active in the city itself until late 1943.[30]

After the Italian armistice in September 1943, the city was occupied by Wehrmacht troops. Trieste became nominally part of the newly constituted Italian Social Republic, but it was de facto ruled by Germany, who created the Operation Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (OZAK) out of former Italian north-eastern regions, with Trieste as the administrative centre. The new administrative entity was headed by Friedrich Rainer, Gauleiter of Carinthia, named supreme commissary of the AK zone. A semblance of indigenous Italian rule was kept in the form of Cesare Pagnini, mayor of Trieste, but every civil official was assigned a representative of the supreme commissar in the form of a Deutsche Berater (German Adviser). [31] Under German occupation, the only concentration camp with a crematorium on Italian soil was built in a suburb of Trieste, at the Risiera di San Sabba on 4 April 1944. From 20 October 1943, to the spring of 1944, around 25,000 Jews and partisans were interrogated and tortured in the Risiera. Three to four thousand of them were murdered here by shooting, beating or in gas vans. Most were imprisoned before being transferred to other concentration camps.[32]

The city saw intense Italian and Yugoslav partisan activity and suffered from Allied bombings, over 20 air raids in 1944–1945, targeting the oil refineries, port and marshalling yard but also causing considerable collateral damage to the city and 651 deaths among the population.[33] The worst raid took place on 10 June 1944, when a hundred tons of bombs dropped by 40 USAAF bombers, targeting the oil refineries, resulted in the destruction of 250 buildings, damage to another 700 and 463 victims.[34][35][36]

A postage stamp issued by the Italian Social Republic with a Yugoslav liberation overprint

On 30 April 1945, the Slovenian and Italian anti-Fascist Osvobodilna fronta (OF) and National Liberation Committee (Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, or CLN) of Edoardo Marzari and Antonio Fonda Savio, made up of approximately 3,500 volunteers, incited a riot against the Nazi occupiers. On 1 May Allied members of the Yugoslav Partisans' 8th Dalmatian Corps took over most of the city, except for the courts and the castle of San Giusto, where the German garrisons refused to surrender to anyone but the New Zealanders, due to the partisans' reputation for shooting German and Italian prisoners of war.[37] The 2nd New Zealand Division under General Freyberg continued to advance towards Trieste along Route 14 around the northern coast of the Adriatic sea and arrived in the city the following day (see official histories The Italian Campaign[38] and Through the Venetian Line).[39] The German forces surrendered on the evening of 2 May, but were then turned over to the Yugoslav forces.[40]

The Yugoslavs held full control of the city until 12 June, a period known in Italian historiography as the "forty days of Trieste".[41] During this period, hundreds of local Italians and anti-Communist Slovenes were arrested by the Yugoslav authorities, and many of them were never seen again.[42] Some were interned in Yugoslav internment camps (in particular at Borovnica, Slovenia), while others were murdered on the Karst Plateau.[43] British Field Marshal Harold Alexander condemned the Yugoslav military occupation, stating that "Marshal Tito's apparent intention to establish his claims by force of arms . . . [is] all too reminiscent of Hitler, Mussolini and Japan. It is to prevent such actions that we have been fighting this war."[44][45] In this most turbulent of periods, the city saw a thorough reorganisation of the political-administrative system: the Yugoslav Fourth Army, to which many figures of prominence were attached (including Edvard Kardelj, a sign of just how important the Isonzo front was in Yugoslav aims) established a provisional Military Command in the occupied areas. Fully understanding the precarious position it found itself in, the Yugoslav Command undertook great efforts to claim the success for itself, faced with the presence of the New Zealander Division in Trieste, which could undermine, as it did, postwar claims of sovereignty and control over the seaport.[46] To this effect, a Tanjug Agency communiqué stated: "The seaport of Trieste, Monfalcone and Gorizia could not be occupied by the above mentioned division [the New Zealand Division] as these cities had already been liberated [...] by the Yugoslav army. [...] It is true that some Allied forces have without our permission entered into the above mentioned cities which might have undesirable consequences unless this misunderstanding is promptly settled by mutual agreement" [47]

After an agreement between the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and Field Marshal Alexander, the Yugoslav forces withdrew from Trieste, which came under a joint British-U.S. military administration.[48] The Julian March was divided by the Morgan Line between Anglo-American and Yugoslav military administration until September 1947 when the Paris Peace Treaty established the Free Territory of Trieste. The effective turning point for Trieste's fortunes had already been established, though: President Truman's stipulations, later named the Truman Doctrine, in all but name had sealed the status quo, formalised only in the above-mentioned treaty, one that proved to be a careful balancing act between Yugoslav demands, Italian claims and international aims toward the Adriatic gulf and Eastern Europe in general. Questions arose on the structure of government as soon and even earlier than the signing of the treaty, with neither Italy nor Yugoslavia willing to recognise a joint governor. [49] Initially, the newly established Allied Military Government (AMG) found it difficult to exercise its authority over the newly administered territories (the Italian majority provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Pola), because of a rooted communist presence, especially in the countryside. This state of affairs did not change until a formal peace treaty with Italy had been signed, granting the AMG the full powers to administer justice and re-establish law and order in those areas under its administration. Replacing the People's Militia, the AMG recruited a civilian police force from the indigenous population along the Anglo-Saxon police model. This exercise of jurisdiction was thus articulated: pursuant to Proclamation No. 1, three tiers of tribunals were established: the Summary Military Courts, with jurisdiction over petty crime, the Superior Military Courts, which could impose punishments not exceeding 10 years imprisonment, and the General Military Court, which could impose the death penalty. Civil courts, as modelled on the Kingdom of Italy's code, were, pursuant to General Order No. 6, re-established July 12, 1945 but the slovene minority was given the right to be heard, and for proceedings to be, in their own language.[50]

Trieste and Zone A/B

In 1947, Trieste was declared an independent city state under the protection of the United Nations as the Free Territory of Trieste. The territory was divided into two zones, A and B, along the Morgan Line established in 1945.[51]

From 1947 to 1954, Zone A was occupied and governed by the Allied Military Government, composed of the American "Trieste United States Troops" (TRUST), commanded by Major General Bryant E. Moore, the commanding general of the American 88th Infantry Division, and the "British Element Trieste Forces" (BETFOR),[52] commanded by Sir Terence Airey, who were the joint forces commander and also the military governors.

Cheering crowd for the return of Trieste to Italy on November 4, 1954

Zone A covered almost the same area of the current Italian Province of Trieste, except for four small villages south of Muggia (see below), which were given to Yugoslavia after the dissolution (see London Memorandum of 1954) of the Free Territory in 1954. Occupied Zone B, which was under the administration of Miloš Stamatović, then a colonel in the Yugoslav People's Army, was composed of the north-westernmost portion of the Istrian peninsula, between the Mirna River and the cape Debeli Rtič.

In 1954, in accordance with the Memorandum of London, the vast majority of Zone A—including the city of Trieste—joined Italy, whereas Zone B and four villages from Zone A (Plavje, Spodnje Škofije, Hrvatini, and Elerji) became part of Yugoslavia, divided between Slovenia and Croatia. The final border line with Yugoslavia and the status of the ethnic minorities in the areas was settled bilaterally in 1975 with the Treaty of Osimo.[53] This line now constitutes the border between Italy and Slovenia.

Professional fisherman's boat in Barcola, a suburb of Trieste

Fishing boats anchor at Molo Veneziano near Piazza Venezia. In summer lampare (large lamps) are used for fishing and in autumn and winter redi di posta (smaller fishing nets) are used. In the Gulf of Trieste, because of the crystal-clear, nutrient-poor water with little plankton, fishing in itself is challenging. The fishing season lasts from May to July. In terms of fish reproduction, fishing is prohibited in August and restricted in winter. As of 2009, there are fewer than 200 professional fishermen in the city. There is also a small fishing port in the suburb Barcola. Some of the fish is sold directly from the boats or delivered to the town's shops and restaurants. The rare alici (anchovies - in the local dialect: Sardoni barcolani) from the Gulf of Trieste near Barcola, which are only caught at Sirocco, are particularly sought after because of their white meat and special taste and fetch high prices for fishermen.[73][74]

The Castello Miramare, or Miramare Castle, on the waterfront 8 kilometres (5 miles) from Trieste, was built between 1856 and 1860 in a project by Carl Junker, commissioned by Archduke Maximilian. The castle gardens comprise a variety of trees, chosen by and planted on the orders of Maximilian.[92] Features of the gardens include two ponds, one noted for its swans and the other for lotus flowers, the castle dependance ("Castelletto"), a bronze statue of Maximilian, and a small chapel where a cross made from the remains of the "Novara" is kept, the flagship on which Maximilian, brother of Emperor Franz Josef, set sail to become Emperor of Mexico.

During the 1930s, the castle was also the home of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, the last commander of Italian forces in East Africa during the Second World War. During the period of the application of the Instrument for the Provisional Regime of the Free Territory of Trieste, as established in the Treaty of Peace with Italy (Paris 10/02/1947), the castle served as headquarters for the United States Army's TRUST force.

The Castel San Giusto, or Castle of San Giusto, was built upon the remains of previous castles on the site and took almost two centuries to build. The stages of the development of the castle's defensive structures are marked by the following periods: the central part built, under Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor (1470–1), the round Venetian bastion (1508–9), the Hoyos-Lalio bastion and the Pomis, or "Bastione fiorito" dated 1630.

• The St Justus Cathedral (1320). Named after the city's Patron, Justus of Trieste, the church's interiors are decorated with Byzantine mosaics. It became a symbol of Italian Trieste during the Risorgimento.
• The Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Spyridon (1869). The building adopts the Greek-cross plan with five cupolas in the Byzantine tradition. The parish forms part of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Austria and Switzerland.
• The Anglican Chiesa di Cristo (Christ Church) (1829)
• Sant'Antonio Taumaturgo (1842)
• The Mekhitarist Armenian Catholic Church (1859)
• The Waldensian and Helvetian Evangelical Basilica of St. Silvester (11th century)
• The Church of Santa Maria Maggiore (1682)
• The Augustan Evangelical-Lutheran Church (1874)
• The Greek Orthodox Church of San Nicolò dei Greci (1787). This church by the architect Matteo Pertsch (1818), with bell towers on both sides of the façade, follows the Austrian late baroque style. The interiors are decorated by golden ornaments.
• The Synagogue of Trieste (1912)
• The Temple of Monte Grisa (1960), a Roman Catholic church north of the city

• The Arco di Riccardo (33 BC)[93] is a gate built in the Roman walls in 33 BC. It stands in Piazzetta Barbacan, in the narrow streets of the old town. Its current name is believed to be a corruption of Arco del Cardo, referring to the cardo, the main north-to-south Roman street; folk etymology credits it to Richard the Lionheart (Italian: Riccardo Cuor di Leone), a Crusader king of England.
• Basilica Forense (2nd century)
• Palaeochristian basilica (4th to 6th century)
• Roman Age Temples: one dedicated to Athena, one to Zeus, both on the San Giusto hill.

The ruins of the temple dedicated to Zeus are next to the Forum, those of Athena's temple are under the basilica, visitors can see its basement.

The Roman theatre lies at the foot of the San Giusto hill, facing the sea. The construction partially exploits the gentle slope of the hill, and much of the theatre is made of stone. The topmost portion of the steps and the stage were supposedly made of wood. The statues which adorned the theatre, brought to light in the 1930s, are now preserved in the town museum. Three inscriptions from the Trajanic period mention a certain Q. Petronius Modestus, someone closely connected to the development of the theatre, which was erected during the second half of the 1st century.[94]

In the entire Province of Trieste, there are 10 speleological groups out of 24 in the whole Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The Trieste plateau (Altopiano Triestino), called Kras or the Carso and covering an area of about 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) within Italy has approximately 1,500 caves of various sizes (like that of Basovizza, now a monument to the Foibe massacres).[95]

Among the most famous are the Grotta Gigante, the largest tourist cave in the world, with a single cavity large enough to contain St Peter's in Rome, and the Cave of Trebiciano, 350 metres (1,150 ft) deep, at the bottom of which flows the Timavo River. This river dives underground at the Škocjan Caves in Slovenia (on the UNESCO list and only a few kilometres from Trieste) and flows about 30 kilometres (19 mi) before emerging about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) from the sea in a series of springs near Duino, reputed by the Romans to be an entrance to Hades ("the world of the dead").

• The Austrian Quarter: Half of the city was built during the Austro-Hungarian period, giving the city some aspects of Vienna's architectural characteristics. The majority of buildings were built in Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Eclectic and Liberty styles.
• Città Vecchia (Old City): Trieste has an extensive old city: there are many narrow and crooked streets with typical medieval houses. Almost all of the area is closed to traffic.
• Piazza Unità d'Italia, Trieste's central majestic square surrounded by 19th century architecture, and the largest seafront square in Europe.
• Piazza Venezia, with a view over the Adriatic. Since 2009, the monument to Archduke Maximilian has been located in Piazza Venezia again, looking over the Gulf of Trieste to the Miramare Castle, the subject wearing a Vice Admiral's uniform. The more than 8 metre high bronze monument, with the allegories of the four continents, is intended to honour Maximilian's philanthropy and his interest in science and art. It was sculpted by sculptor Johannes Schilling at the request of and under the direction of Baron Pasquale Revoltella. It was inaugurated in 1875 in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph, later removed after 1918 and relocated to the Miramare Castle Park in 1961.[96][97] Museo Revoltella is located in Piazza Venezia in the style of the Italian Renaissance with its six allegorical statues of the Venetian Francesco Bosa on the roof balustrade.
  

  Piazza Venezia
• The Stazione Rogers (gas station "Aquila" designed by Ernesto Nathan Rogers) is considered an important building of Italian rationalism and post-war modernism and is now a multi-purpose centre for culture and architecture.[98]
• Molo Sartorio, where still today the sea level for the Republic of Austria, a landlocked nation, is measured as "metres above the Adriatic". The historic "Antico Magazzino Vini" next to the Piazza Venezia was built in 1902 to store wine from Dalmatia and Istria. It has now been revitalised and now houses an Eataly. The former fish market, now renovated, is now a place for exhibitions and art, and is also located directly by the sea.
• Canal Grande, Trieste's grand canal, in the very centre of the city.
• Caffè San Marco, a historical coffee house in the centre of the city. Cafès play an important role in the Triestine economy, as Trieste developed a thriving coffee industry under Austria-Hungary, and is still known to this day as "the coffee capital of Italy".
• Barcola, a suburb of Trieste with a special microclimate[17] and a high quality of life since ancient times. On its kilometre-long sea promenade towards Miramare Castle there are cafes and restaurants. Many locals spend their free time on this urban beach area, sunbathing, swimming and playing sports.The northernmost lighthouse in the Mediterranean, the Vittoria Light, located above Barcola, dominates the skyline above.[99]
• Val Rosandra, a national park on the border between the Province of Trieste and Slovenia.

View of Barcola from the Vittoria Lighthouse

Much of Trieste lies directly on the sea. Some bathing establishments are located in the very centre, like the "El Pedocin - Bagno marino La Lanterna" and the "Ausonia". The "Bagno Marino Ferroviario" has been located in Viale Miramare 30 since 1925.[100] Many locals and students use their lunch break or free time to go to Barcola, which is an urban beach, to meet friends on the famous mile-long embankment. In the evening, many locals walk there between the bars with a view of the sea, the Alpine arc, Istria and the city.

Well-known are the 10 popular semi-circular units on the bank consisting of a viewing platform, sanitary facilities and changing rooms, which are popularly referred to as "Topolini".[101] In the area of the Excelsior bathing establishment, which is located on a historic sand bank, there were very elegant Roman villas and their sports and bathing facilities in antiquity.[102] Already in the 19th century there were numerous restaurants and cafes with shady vine arbors. The sea around Miramare Castle is today a nature reserve.

The pine forest of Barcola is located directly on the sea and is a meeting place for the inhabitants in every season. One of the best running routes in Trieste leads from Barcola to Miramare Castle and back. The small bathing complex Bagno da Sticco is right next to Miramare Castle. Further towards Grignano and Duino there are numerous bays and natural beaches. Due to the currents in the Adriatic, the water in the area of Trieste is very pure and not polluted by suspended matter from rivers. The current is counterclockwise.[103][104][105]

Newspapers

• Il Piccolo
• Primorski dnevnik
• La Gazzetta Giuliana

Broadcasting

Television

• RAI Friuli Venezia-Giulia
• Tele Quattro

Radio

• Radioattività Trieste
• Radio Fragola
• Radio Punto Zero

Publishing

• Asterios Editore
• Lint Editoriale

The local football club, Triestina, is one of the oldest clubs in Italy. Notably, it was runner-up in the 1947–1948 season of the Italian first division (Serie A), losing the championship to Torino.

Trieste is notable for having had two football clubs participating in the championships of two different nations at the same time during the period of the Free Territory of Trieste, due to the schism within the city and region created by the post-war demarcation. Triestina played in the Italian first division (Serie A). Although it faced relegation after the first season after the Second World War, the FIGC modified the rules, as it was deemed important to keep the club in the league. The following year the club played its best season with a 3rd-place finish. Meanwhile, Yugoslavia bought A.S.D. Ponziana, a small team in Trieste, which under a new name, Amatori Ponziana Trst, played in the Yugoslavian league for three years.[116] Triestina went bankrupt in the 1990s, but after being re-founded, it regained a position in the Italian second division (Serie B) in 2002. Ponziana was renamed "Circolo Sportivo Ponziana 1912" and currently plays in Friuli Venezia Giulia Group of Promozione, which is the 7th level of the Italian league.

Trieste also has a well-known basketball team, Pallacanestro Trieste, which reached its zenith in the 1990s under coach Bogdan Tanjević when, with large financial backing from sponsors Stefanel, it was able to sign players such as Dejan Bodiroga, Fernando Gentile and Gregor Fučka, stars of European basketball. At the end of the 2017–18 season, the team, now trained by coach Eugenio Dalmasson and sponsored by Alma, won promotion to the Lega Basket Serie A, Italy's highest basketball league, 14 years after its last tenure.

Many sailing clubs have roots in the city which contribute to Trieste's strong tradition in that sport.The Barcolana regatta, first held in 1969, is the world's largest sailing race by number of participants.

Local sporting facilities include the Stadio Nereo Rocco, a UEFA-certified stadium with seating capacity of 32,500; the Palatrieste, an indoor sporting arena sitting 7,000 people, and Piscina Bruno Bianchi, a large Olympic size swimming pool.

On 26 August 1985 American basketball player Michael Jordan dunked so hard that the backboard shattered during a Nike exhibition game played in Trieste. The signed jersey and shoes (including one of the tiny shards of glass in the sole of the left shoe) that the player wore during the famous shattered backboard game were later auctioned. The moment the glass broke was filmed and is often cited as a particularly important milestone in Jordan's rise.[117]

Trieste has been portrayed on screen a number of times, with films often shot on location. In 1942 the early neorealist Alfa Tau! was filmed partly in the city.

Cinematic interest in Trieste peaked during the height of the "Free Territory" era between 1947 and 1954, with international films such as Sleeping Car to Trieste and Diplomatic Courier portraying it as a hotbed of espionage. These films, along with The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), conveyed an image of the city as a cosmopolitan place of conflict between Great Powers, a portrayal which resembles Casablanca (1943). Italian filmmakers, by contrast, portrayed Trieste as unquestionably Italian in a series of patriotic films including Trieste mia! and Ombre su Trieste.[118]

In 1963 the city hosted the first International Festival of Science Fiction Film (Festival internazionale del film di fantascienza), which ran until 1982. Under the name Science Plus Fiction (now Trieste Science+Fiction Festival), the festival was revived in 2000.[119][120]

A new interest in the city has been sparked by movies such as The Invisible Boy (2014), its sequel The Invisible Boy—Second Generation and La Porta Rossa, a TV series.[121]

Trieste's maritime location and its former long-term status as part of the Austrian Empire—later the Austro-Hungarian Empire—made the Port of Trieste the major commercial port for much of the landlocked areas of central Europe. In the 19th century, a new port district known as the Porto Nuovo was built northeast of the city centre.[126]

Significant volumes of goods pass through the container, steel works and oil terminals, all located to the south of the city centre. After many years of stagnation, a change in the leadership placed the port on a steady growth path, recording a 40% increase in shipping traffic as of 2007.[126]

Today the port of Trieste is one of the largest Italian ports and next to Gioia Tauro the only deep water port in the central Mediterranean for seventh generation container ships.[127]

Railways came early to Trieste, due to the importance of its port and the need to transport people and goods inland. The first railroad line to reach Trieste was the Südbahn, built by the Austrian government in 1857. This railway stretches for 1,400 km (870 mi) to Lviv, Ukraine, via Ljubljana, Slovenia; Sopron, Hungary; Vienna, Austria; and Kraków, Poland, crossing the backbone of the Alps mountains through the Semmering Pass near Graz. It approaches Trieste through the village of Villa Opicina, a few kilometres from the centre but over 300 metres (984 feet) higher in elevation. Due to this, the line takes a 32 kilometres (20 miles) detour to the north, gradually descending before terminating at the Trieste Centrale railway station.

In 1887, the Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways (German: kaiserlich-königliche österreichische Staatsbahnen) opened a new railway line, the Trieste–Hrpelje railway (German: Hrpelje-Bahn), from the new port of Trieste to Hrpelje-Kozina, on the Istrian railway.[128] The intended function of the new line was to reduce the Austrian Empire's dependence on the Südbahn network.[129] Its opening gave Trieste a second station south of the original one, which was named Trieste Sant'Andrea (German: Triest Sankt Andrea). The two stations were connected by a railway line that in the initial plans was meant to be an interim solution: the Rive railway (German: Rive-Bahn), which survived until 1981, when it was replaced by the Galleria di Circonvallazione, a 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) railway tunnel route to the east of the city.

With the opening of the Transalpina Railway from Vienna, Austria via Jesenice and Nova Gorica in 1906, the St. Andrea station was replaced by a new, more capacious, facility, named Trieste stazione dello Stato (German: Triest Staatsbahnhof), later Trieste Campo Marzio, now a railway museum, and the original station came to be identified as Trieste stazione della Meridionale or Trieste Meridionale (German: Triest Südbahnhof). This railway also approached Trieste via Villa Opicina, but it took a rather shorter loop southwards towards the sea front. Freight lines from the dock area include container services to northern Italy and to Budapest, Hungary, together with rolling highway services to Salzburg, Austria and Frankfurt, Germany.

There are direct intercity and high-speed trains between Trieste and Venice, Verona, Turin, Milan, Rome, Florence, Naples and Bologna. Passenger trains also run between Villa Opicina and Ljubljana.

On special occasion, the historic ETR 252 "Arlecchino" runs the Venezia Santa Lucia-Trieste Centrale route, operated by Fondazionefs. This is one of four examples ever built.[130]

Trieste is served by the Trieste – Friuli Venezia Giulia Airport (IATA: TRS). The airport serves domestic and international destinations and is fully connected to the national railway and highway networks. The Trieste Airport railway station links the passenger terminal directly to the Venice–Trieste railway thanks to a 425-metre long skybridge. A 16 platform bus terminal, a multi-storey car park with 500 lots and a car park with 1,000 lots give public and private motor vehicles rapid access to the A4 Trieste-Turin highway. At the interchange near Palmanova, the A4 branches off to Autostrada A23 linking to Austria's Süd Autobahn (A2) via Udine and Tarvisio. In the southern direction, this highway also offers seamless interconnection to Slovenia's A1 Motorway, and through that to highway networks in Croatia, Hungary, and the Balkans.

Scooters are used as personal transport in Trieste.

Local public transport is operated by Trieste Trasporti, a part of TPL FVG, which operates a network of around 60 bus routes and two ferry lines. They also operate the Opicina Tramway, a hybrid between a tramway and funicular railway, providing a more direct link between the city centre and Opicina.[131]

Trieste is twinned with:

• Beirut, Lebanon (since 1956)
• Douala, Cameroon (since 1971)
• Graz, Austria[132] (since 1973)
• Santos, Brazil (since 1977)
• Southampton, England, United Kingdom (since 2002)
• Le Havre, France