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"Tergeste" redirects here. For the asteroid, see 478 Tergeste. For other uses, see Trieste (disambiguation).
Comune di Trieste
Flag of Trieste
Coat of arms of Trieste
Coat of arms
Trieste is located in Italy
Location of Trieste in Italy
Coordinates: 45°38′N 13°48′E﻿ / ﻿45.633°N 13.800°E﻿ / 45.633; 13.800Coordinates: 45°38′N 13°48′E﻿ / ﻿45.633°N 13.800°E﻿ / 45.633; 13.800
Country Italy
Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Province Trieste (TS)
 • Mayor Roberto Cosolini (PD)
 • Total 84 km2 (32 sq mi)
Elevation 2 m (7 ft)
Population (1 January 2011)[1]
 • Total 205,535
 • Density 2,400/km2 (6,300/sq mi)
Demonym Triestini
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 34100
Dialing code 040
Patron saint St. Justus of Trieste
Saint day November 3
Website Official website

Trieste (/trˈɛst/;[2] Italian pronunciation: [triˈɛste] About this sound listen ; Triestine Venetian: Trièst; Slovene, Serbo-Croatian: Trst, Трст;[3] German: Triest)[3] is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city. Trieste is located at the head of the Gulf of Trieste and throughout history it has been influenced by its location at the crossroads of Latin, Slavic, and Germanic cultures. In 2009, it had a population of about 205,000[1] and it is the capital of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the Province of Trieste.


In 2012 Lonely listed the city of Trieste as the world's most underrated travel destination.


The original pre-Roman name of the city, Tergeste, derived from the Venetic words terg- 'market' and est- 'place', is etymologically related to Scandinavian torg(et), Old Church Slavonic tьrgъ, Slovenian, Serbian, and Croatian trg / trg / tržište 'market' and mesto / mjesto 'place', Romanian tirgu, and Albanian treg, all meaning 'market'.[4][5][6] Roman authors also transliterated the name as Tergestum. Modern names of the city include: Italian: Trieste, Slovene: Trst, German: Triest, Hungarian: Trieszt, Croatian: Trst, Serbian: Трст, Trst, and Greek: Τεργέστη, Tergesti.



Satellite 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 are 5.4 °C (42 °F) in January and 23.3 °C (74 °F) in July.[7] The climatic setting of the city is humid subtropical climate (Cfa according to Köppen climate classification) with some Mediterranean influences. On average, humidity levels are pleasantly low (~65%), while only two months (January & February) receive slightly less than 60 mm (2 in) of precipitation. Trieste along with the Istrian peninsula enjoys evenly distributed rainfall above 1,000 mm (39 in) in total; it is noteworthy that no true summer drought occurs. Snow occurs on average 2 days per year.[8] Temperatures are very mild - lows below zero are somewhat rare (with just 9 days per a year) and highs above 30 °C (86 °F) similarly can be expected 15 days a year only. Winter maxima are lower than in typical Mediterranean zone (~ 5 - 11 °C) with quite high minima (~2 - 8 °C). Two basic weather patterns interchange - sunny, sometimes windy but often very cold days (max. +7, min. 0; frequently connected to an occurrence of northeast wind called Bora ) and rainy days with temperatures about 6 to 11 °C (43 to 52 °F). Absolute minimal temperature came with Arctic winter of 1956, −14.6 °C (6 °F). Summer is very warm with maxima about 28 degrees and lows above 20 degrees. Absolute maximum from 2003 is 37.2 °C (99 °F). Average year temperature, 14.1 °C (57 °F), is nearly the same as that of Earth.

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 several days and reach speeds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph), thus sometimes bringing all-day subzero temperatures to the entire city.[citation needed]

Climate data for Trieste Barcola
Record high °C (°F) 16.6
Average high °C (°F) 7.6
Daily mean °C (°F) 5.4
Average low °C (°F) 3.8
Record low °C (°F) −9.3
Precipitation mm (inches) 58.0
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 7.8 6.2 7.8 8.5 8.7 9.3 6.5 7.3 7.1 7.9 9.1 8.4 94.6
Avg. snowy days 0.7 0.5 0.2 0.1 0.5 2.0
 % humidity 67 64 62 64 64 65 62 62 66 68 67 68 64.9
Source #1: Servizio Meteorologico dell'Aeronautica Militare, data 1951-2011
Source #2: Rivista Ligure "La neve sulle coste del Maditerraneo" [8]

City districts[edit]

Seven sections of Trieste

Trieste is administratively divided in seven districts:
3) Barcola (Slovene: Barkovlje)[3] · Cologna (Slovene: Kolonja)[3] · Conconello (Ferlugi) · Gretta (Slovene: Greta)[3] · Grignano (Grljan) · Guardiella (Slovene: Verdelj)[3] · Miramare · Roiano (Slovene: Rojan)[3] · Scorcola (Škorklja)
6) Cattinara (Katinara) · Chiadino (Slovene: Kadinj)[3] · San Luigi · Guardiella (Verdelj) · Longera (Slovene: Lonjer)[3] · San Giovanni (Sveti IvanRozzol (Slovene: Rocol)[3] · Melara
7) Chiarbola (Slovene: Čarbola)[3] · Coloncovez (Kolonkovec) · Santa Maria Maddalena Inferiore (Slovene: Spodnja Sveta Marija Magdalena)[3] - Raute · Santa Maria Maddalena Superiore (Slovene: Zgornja Sveta Marija Magdalena)[3] · Servola (Škedenj) · Poggi Paese · Poggi Sant'Anna (Sveta Ana)· Valmaura · Altura · Borgo San Sergio



Ancient era[edit]

Remains of a Roman arch in Trieste's Old City

Originally an Illyrian settlement, it was later captured by the Carni, a tribe of the Eastern Alps, before becoming part of the Roman republic in 177 BC. It was granted the status of colony under Julius Caesar, who recorded its name as Tergeste in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (51 BC), his work which recounts events of the Gallic Wars.

In imperial times the border of Roman Italy moved from the Timavo river to Formione (today Risano (fiume) (it)). 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.

In the Early Christian era Trieste continued to flourish. It was retained by Constantinople after the ascension of Odoacer in Italy (476) and became a Byzantine military outpost. In 567 the city was destroyed by the Lombards in the course of their invasion of northern Italy. In 788 it became part of the Frankish kingdom, under the authority of their count-bishop. From 1081 the city came loosely under the Patriarchate of Aquileia, developing into a free commune by the end of the 12th century.

Habsburg Empire[edit]


After two centuries of war against the nearby major power, the Republic of Venice (which briefly occupied it in 1283–87, and again in 1368–72), the leading citizens of Trieste petitioned Leopold III of Habsburg, Duke of Austria, to make Trieste part of his domains. The agreement of cessation was signed in October 1382, in front of St. Bartholomew's Church in the village of Šiška (apud Sisciam), today one of the city quarters of Ljubljana. The citizens, however, maintained a certain degree of autonomy up until the 17th century. 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 trade hub. In 1719, it was made a free port within the Habsburg Empire by Emperor Charles VI, and remained a free port until 1 July 1891. The reign of his successor, Maria Theresa of Austria, marked the beginning of a very prosperous era for the city.


The Stock Exchange Square in 1854

The particular Friulian dialect, called Tergestino, spoken until the beginning of the 19th century, was gradually overcome by the Triestine dialect of Venetian (a language deriving directly from Vulgar Latin) and other languages, including standard Italian, Slovene, and German. While Triestine and Italian were spoken by the largest part of the population, German was the language of the Austrian bureaucracy and Slovene was predominantly spoken in the surrounding villages. Since the last decades of the 19th century, the number of speakers of Slovene steadily grew, reaching 25% of the overall population of Trieste municipality in 1911 (30% of the Austro-Hungarian citizens in Trieste).[10]

According to the 1911 census, the proportion of Slovene speakers amounted to 12.6% in the city centre, 47.6% in the suburbs, and 90.5% in the surroundings.[11] They were the largest ethnic group in 9 of the 19 urban neighborhoods of Trieste, and represented a majority in 7 of them.[11] The Italian speakers, on the other hand, made up 60.1% of the population in the city center, 38.1% in the suburbs, and 6.0% in the surroundings. They were the largest linguistic group in 10 of the 19 urban neighborhoods, and represented the majority in 7 of them (including all 6 in the city center). Of the 11 villages included within the city limits, the Slovene speakers had an overwhelming majority in 10, and the German speakers in one (Miramare).

German speakers amounted to 5% of the city's population, with the highest proportions in the city center. A small proportion of Trieste's population spoke Croatian (around 1.3% in 1911), and the city also had several other smaller ethnic communities, including Czechs, Istro-Romanians, Serbs, and Greeks, who mostly assimilated either into the Italian or the Slovene-speaking communities.

A view of Trieste in 1885

In the later part of the 19th century, Pope Leo XIII considered moving his residence to Trieste or Salzburg due to what he considered a hostile anti-Catholic climate in Italy following the 1870 Capture of Rome by the newly established Kingdom of Italy. However, the Austrian monarch Franz Josef I rejected this idea.[12] The modern Austro-Hungarian Navy used Trieste as a base and for shipbuilding. The construction of the first major trunk railway in the Empire, the Vienna-Trieste Austrian Southern Railway, was completed in 1857, a valuable asset for trade and the supply of coal.


World War I, annexation to Italy and the Fascist era[edit]

Italy, which entered World War I alongside the Allied Powers, having been promised substantial territorial gains that included the former Austrian Littoral and western Inner Carniola, annexed the city of Trieste after the war, according to provisions of the 1915 Treaty of London and the Italian-Yugoslav 1920 Treaty of Rapallo. Whereas only a few hundred Italians remained in the newly established South Slavic [i] state, a population of half a million Slavs,[13] of which the annexed Slovenes were cut off from the remaining three-quarters of total Slovene population at the time, were subjected to forced Italianization. Trieste had a large Italian majority and had more ethnic Slovene inhabitants than even Slovenia's capital Ljubljana at the end of 19th century.

The Italian lower middle class—who felt most threatened by the city's Slovene middle class—sought to make Trieste a città italianissima, committing a series of attacks led by Black Shirts against Slovene-owned shops, libraries, and lawyers' offices, and even the Trieste National Hall, the building central to the Slovene community.[14] By the mid-1930s several thousand Slovenes, especially members of the middle class and the intelligentsia from Trieste emigrated to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and to South America. Despite the exodus of Slovene and German speakers, the population in the city increased due to internal migration of Italians from other parts of Italy; furthermore, several thousand ethnic Italians from Dalmatia moved to Trieste from the newly created Yugoslavia.[15]

In the late 1920s, resistance began with the Slovene militant anti-fascist organization TIGR which carried out several bomb attacks in the city centre. In 1930 and 1941, two trials against Slovene activists were held in Trieste by the Fascist Special Tribunal for the Security of the State. Among the notable Slovene émigrés from Trieste were the author Vladimir Bartol, the legal theorist Boris Furlan and the Argentine architect Viktor Sulčič. The political leadership of the around 70,000 émigrés from the Julian March in Yugoslavia was mostly composed by Trieste Slovenes: Lavo Čermelj, Josip Vilfan and Ivan Marija Čok. During the 1920s and 1930s, several monumental building 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 one of the city's landmarks. The economy experienced improvement in the late 1930s, and several large infrastructure projects were carried out.[16]

The Fascist government encouraged some of the artistic and intellectual subcultures that emerged in the 1920s and the city became home to an important avant-garde movement in visual arts, centered around the futurist Tullio Crali and the constructivist Avgust Černigoj. In the same period, Trieste consolidated its role as one of the centres of modern Italian literature, with authors such as Umberto Saba, Biagio Marin, Giani Stuparich, and Salvatore Satta. Intellectuals were frequently associated with the historic Caffè San Marco, a cafè in the city still open today. Some non-Italian intellectuals remained in the city, such as the Austrian author Julius Kugy, the Slovene writer and poet Stanko Vuk, the lawyer and human rights activist Josip Ferfolja and the anti-fascist clergyman Jakob Ukmar.


World War II and its aftermath[edit]

See also: Foibe killings

With the annexation of Province of Ljubljana by Italy and the subsequent deportation of 25,000 Slovenes, which equaled 7.5% of the total population of the Province, the operation, one of the most drastic in Europe, filled up Rab concentration camp, Gonars concentration camp, Monigo (Treviso), Renicci d'Anghiari, Chiesanuova, and other Italian concentration camps where altogether 9,000 Slovenes died,[18] the World War II came close to Trieste. Following 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.

After the Italian armistice in September 1943, the city was occupied by German troops. Trieste became nominally part of the newly constituted Italian Social Republic, but it was de facto ruled by Germany: the Germans created the Operation Zone of the Adriatic Littoral out of former Italian north-eastern regions, with Trieste as the administrative center. The new administrative entity was headed by Friedrich Rainer. 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. Around 3,000 Jews, South Slavs and Italian anti-Fascists were killed at the Risiera while thousands of others were imprisoned before being transferred to other concentration camps.

The city saw intense Italian and Yugoslav partisan activity and suffered from Allied bombings. The city's Jewish community was deported to extermination camps where most of them perished.

On 30 April 1945, the Italian anti-Fascist National Liberation Committee (Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, or CLN) of Marzari and Savio Fonda, made up of approximately 3,500 volunteers, incited a riot against the German occupants. On May 1, Allied forces of the Yugoslav Partisans' 8th Dalmatian Corps arrived and took over most of the city, except for the courts and the castle of San Giusto where the German garrisons refused to surrender to any force other than New Zealanders.[citation needed] The 2nd New Zealand Division 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[19] and Through the Venetian Line).[20] The German forces surrendered on the evening of May 2 but were then turned over to the Yugoslav forces.

The Yugoslavs held full control of the city until June 12, a period known in the Italian historiography as the "forty days of Trieste".[21]

During this period, hundreds of local Italians and anti-Communist Slovenes were arrested by the Yugoslav authorities, and many of them disappeared.[22] These included former Fascist and German collaborators but also Italian nationalists and any other real or potential opponents of Yugoslav Communism. Some were interned in Yugoslav concentration camps (in particular at Borovnica, Slovenia) while others were murdered and thrown into potholes ("foibe") on the Karst plateau.[23]

After an agreement between the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and the British Field Marshal Harold Alexander, the Yugoslav forces withdrew from Trieste which came under a joint British-U.S. military administration. The Julian March was divided between Anglo-American and Yugoslav military administration until September 1947 when the Paris Peace Treaty established the Free Territory of Trieste.

Zone A of the Free Territory of Trieste (1947–54)[edit]


From 1947 to 1954, the A Zone was 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),[25] commanded by Sir Terence Airey, who were the joint forces commander and also the military governors. Zone A covered almost the same area of the current Italian Province of Trieste, except for four small villages south of Muggia, which were given to Yugoslavia after the dissolution (see London Memorandum of 1954) of the Free Territory in 1954. Zone B, which remained under the military administration of the Yugoslav People's Army, was composed of the north-westernmost portion of the Istrian peninsula, between the river Mirna and the Debeli Rtič cape.

In 1954, in accordance with the Memorandum of London the vast majority of Zone A, including the city of Trieste, was given as civil administration to Italy. Zone B was given as a civil administration to Yugoslavia along with four villages from Zone A (Plavje, Spodnje Škofije, Hrvatini, and Jelarji), and was divided among the Socialist Republic of 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. This line now constitutes the border between Italy and Slovenia.


During the Austro-Hungarian era, Trieste became a leading European city in economy, trade and commerce, and was the fourth-largest and most important centre in the empire, after Vienna, Budapest and Prague. The economy of Trieste, however, fell into a decline after the city's annexation to Italy after World War I. But Fascist Italy promoted a huge development of Trieste in the 1930s, with new manufacturing activities related even to naval and armament industries (like the famous "Cantieri Aeronautici Navali Triestini (CANT)").[26] Allied bombings during World War II destroyed the industrial section of the city (mainly the shipyards). As a consequence, Trieste was a mainly peripheral city during the Cold War. However, since the 1970s, Trieste has experienced a certain economic revival.

Today, Trieste is a lively and cosmopolitan city, with about 8% of its population hailing from a cultural community, and is a major centre in the EU for trade, politics, culture, shipbuilding, education, transport and commerce. The city is part of the Corridor 5 project to establish closer transport connections between Western and Eastern Europe, via countries such as Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Ukraine and Bosnia.[27]

The Port of Trieste is a trade hub with a significant commercial shipping business, busy container and oil terminals, and steel works. The oil terminal feeds the Transalpine Pipeline which covers 40% of Germany's energy requirements (100% of the states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg), 90% of Austria and more than 30% of the Czech Republic's.[28] The sea highway connecting the ports of Trieste and Istanbul is one of the busiest RO/RO [roll on roll-off] routes in the Mediterranean.The port is also Italy's and the Mediterranean's (and one of Europe's) greatest coffee ports, supplying more than 40% of Italy's coffee.[29] The thriving coffee industry in Trieste began under Austria-Hungary, with the Austro-Hungarian government even awarding tax-free status to the city in order to encourage more commerce. Some remnants of Austria-Hungary's coffee-driven economic ambition remain, such as the Hausbrandt Trieste coffee company. As a result, present-day Trieste boasts many cafes, and is still known to this day as "the coffee capital of Italy". Companies active in the coffee sector have given birth to the Trieste Coffee Cluster as their main umbrella organization, but also as an economic actor in its own right.[30]

Two Fortune Global 500 companies have their global or national headquarters in the city, respectively: Assicurazioni Generali and Allianz. Other megacompanies based in Trieste are Fincantieri, one of the world's leading shipbuilding companies and the Italian operations of Wärtsilä. Prominent companies from Trieste include: AcegasAps (Hera Group), Autamarocchi SpA, Banca Generali SpA, Genertel, HERA Trading, Illy, Italia Marittima, Nuovo Arsenale Cartubi Srl, Jindal Steel and Power Italia SpA; Pacorini SpA, TBS Group, Telit, and polling and marketing company SWG. With two main banking institutions, the Zadružna Kraška Banka (ZKB), and a branch of the Nova Ljubljanska Banka the local Slovene community contributes vigorously to the economy.[citation needed]


Historical population
Year Pop.   ±%  
1921 239,558 —    
1931 250,170 +4.4%
1936 248,307 −0.7%
1951 272,522 +9.8%
1961 272,723 +0.1%
1971 271,879 −0.3%
1981 252,369 −7.2%
1991 231,100 −8.4%
2001 211,184 −8.6%
2009 Est. 205,507 −2.7%
Source: ISTAT 2001
ISTAT 2007[31]
Trieste, FVG Italy
Median age 46 years 42 years
Under 18 years old 13.8% 18.1%
Over 65 years old 27.9% 20.1%
Foreign Population 6.2% 5.8%
Births/1000 people 7.63 b 9.45 b

As of April 2009, there were 205,507 people residing in Trieste, located in the province of Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, of whom 46.7% were male and 53.3% were female. Trieste had lost roughly 1/3 of its population since the 1970s, due to the crisis of the historical industrial sectors of steel and shipbuilding, a dramatic drop in fertility rates and fast population aging. Minors (children aged 18 and younger) totalled 13.78% of the population compared to pensioners who number 27.9%. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06% (minors) and 19.94% (pensioners). The average age of Trieste residents is 46 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Trieste declined by 3.5%, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.85%. However, in the last two years the city has shown signs of stabilizing thanks to growing immigration fluxes. The crude birth rate in Trieste is only 7.63 per 1,000, one of the lowest in eastern Italy, while the Italian average is 9.45 births.[citation needed]

The dominant local dialect of Trieste is Triestine ("Triestin", pronounced [triɛsˈtin]), influenced by a form of Venetian. This dialect and the official Italian language are spoken in the city, while Slovene is spoken in some of the immediate suburbs.[10] There are also small numbers of Serbian,[32] Croatian, German, and Hungarian speakers.[citation needed]

An estimated 19% of the province's population (49,000 out of 260,000 from the last census) belong to the autochthonous Slovene language community. In total, the city's ethnic Slavic minority makes up about 30 percent of the population.[33]

At the end of 2012, ISTAT estimated that there were 16,279 foreign-born residents in Trieste, representing 7.7% of the total city population. The largest autochthonous minority are Slovenes, but there is also a large immigrant group from Balkan nations (particularly nearby Serbia, Albania and Romania): 4.95%, Asia: 0.52%, and sub-saharan Africa: 0.2%. Serbian community consists of both autochthonous[34] and immigrant groups.[35] Trieste is predominantly Roman Catholic, but also has large numbers of Orthodox Christians, mainly Serbs, due to the city's large migrant population from Eastern Europe and its Balkan influence.[citation needed]

The top ten countries of origin of the inhabitants of Trieste with foreign citizenship at December 31, 2010 were:[36]

Main sights[edit]

Trieste seafront
Piazza Unità d'Italia by night
From left to right: Victory Lighthouse, a part of the harbour, a street of the Old City


Trieste City Hall.
Trieste City Hall.
Trieste City Hall.
The old city stock exchange

Castello Miramare (Miramare Castle)[edit]

The Castello Miramare, or Miramare Castle, on the waterfront 8 kilometres (5 miles) from Trieste, was built between 1856 and 1860 from a project by Carl Junker working under Archduke Maximilian. The Castle gardens provide a setting of beauty with a variety of trees, chosen by and planted on the orders of Maximilian, that today make a remarkable collection[citation needed]. Features of particular attraction in the gardens include two ponds, one noted for its swans and the other for lotus flowers, the Castle annexe ("Castelletto"), a bronze statue of Maximilian, and a small chapel where is kept a cross made from the remains of the "Novara", the flagship on which Maximilian, brother of Emperor Franz Josef, set sail to become Emperor of Mexico. Much later, 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 establish in the Treaty of Peace with Italy (Paris 10/02/1947), the castle served as headquarters for the United States Army's TRUST force.

Castel San Giusto (Castle of San Giusto)[edit]


Places of worship[edit]

  • The St. Justus Cathedral. Symbol of Italian Trieste during the Risorgimento. Named after the city's Patron, St. Justus. This church dates back to 1320: its interiors are decorated by beautiful Byzantine mosaics.
  • The Serbian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity and St. Spyridon (1869). The building adopts the Greek-cross plan with five cupolas in the Byzantine tradition.[37]
  • The Anglican Chiesa di Cristo (Christ Church) (1829)
  • 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 full of golden ornaments.
  • The Synagogue of Trieste (1912). This synagogue is the second-largest in Europe.
  • The Temple of Monte Grisa (1960)

Archaeological remains[edit]

  • Arch of Riccardo (33 BC)[citation needed]. It is a Roman gate built in the Roman walls in 33. It stands in Piazzetta Barbacan, in the narrow streets of the old town. It's called Arco di Riccardo ("Richard's Arch"), where Riccardo is a corruption of "Cardus", the Roman street which crossed it. Folk etimology created a local legend, which says that it was crossed by King Richard of England on the way back from the Crusades.
  • Basilica Forense (2nd century)
  • Palaeochristian basilica
  • Roman Age Temples" : one dedicated to Athena, one to Zeus, both on the S.Giusto hill.


Roman theatre[edit]





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).



  • The Austrian Quarter - Half of the city was built under Austro-Hungarian dominion, so there is present a very large number of avenues and palaces that resemble Vienna. The most present architecture styles are Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Eclectic, Liberty and Baroque.
  • Città Vecchia (Old City) - Trieste boasts an extensive old city: there are many narrow and crooked streets with typical medieval houses. Nearly the entire 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.
  • Val Rosandra, a national park on the border between the Province of Trieste and Slovenia.
  • Caffè San Marco, historical cafè in the center 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".



There are also numerous museums. Among these are:

Two important national monuments:

  • The Risiera di San Sabba (Risiera di San Sabba Museum)', a National monument. It was the only Nazi concentration camp with crematorium in Italy.
  • The Foiba di Basovizza, a National monument. It is a reminder of the killings of Italians (and other ethnic groups) by Yugoslav partisans after World War II, the last episode of an interethnic violence begun in the 19th century, with the rise of nationalism, and heavily intensified by the Fascist government.

The Slovenska gospodarsko-kulturna zveza - Unione Economica-Culturale Slovena is the umbrella organization bringing together cultural and economic associations belonging to the Slovene minority.


  • Radio Fragola
  • Radio Punto Zero


The University of Trieste is a medium-size state supported institution that consists of 12 faculties, boasts a wide and almost complete range of university courses and currently has about 23,000 students enrolled and 1,000 professors. It was founded in 1924. Trieste also hosts the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), a leading graduate and postgraduate teaching and research institution in the study of mathematics, theoretical physics, and neuroscience, and the MIB School of Management Trieste, a private, ASFOR accredited business school.

There are three international schools offering primary and secondary education programs in English in the greater metropolitan area: the International School of Trieste, the European School of Trieste, and the United World College of the Adriatic. Liceo scientifico statale "France Prešeren" offers public secondary education in the Slovene language.[2]

The city hosts numerous national and international scientific research institutions, among which: AREA Science Park, which comprises ELETTRA, a synchrotron particle accelerator with free-electron laser capabilities for research and industrial applications; the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, which operates under a tripartite agreement among the Italian Government, UNESCO, and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); the Trieste Astronomical Observatory; the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), which carries out research on oceans and geophysics; the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, a United Nations centre of excellence for research and training in genetic engineering and biotechnology for the benefit of developing countries; ICS-UNIDO, a UNIDO research centre in the areas of renewable energies, biofuels, medicinal plants, food safety and sustainable development; the Carso Center for Advanced Research in Space Optics; and the secretariats of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and of the InterAcademy Panel: The Global Network of Science Academies (IAP).



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 changed the rules to keep it in, as it was seen as important to keep a club of the city in the Italian league, while Yugoslavia had its eye on the city. In the championship of next season 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 3 years.[38] Triestina went bankrupt in the 1990s, but after being re-founded regained a position in the Italian second division (Serie B) in 2002. Ponziana was renamed as "Circolo Sportivo Ponziana 1912" and currently plays in Friuli-Venezia Giulia Group of Promozione, who is 7th level of the Italian league.

Trieste also boasts a famous basketball team, Pallacanestro Trieste, which reached its zenith in the 1990s when, with large financial backing from sponsors Stefanel, it was able to sign players such as Dejan Bodiroga, Fernando Gentile and Gregor Fučka, all stars of European basketball.


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 8,500, and the Piscina Bruno Bianchi, a large olympic size swimming pool.





The Porto Vecchio, also showing Trieste Centrale railway station
A car of the Opicina Tramway

Maritime transport[edit]

See also: Port of Trieste



Rail transport[edit]


A second trans-Alpine railway was dedicated in 1906, with the opening of the Transalpina Railway from Vienna, Austria via Jesenice and Nova Gorica. This railway also approached Trieste via Villa Opicina, but it took a rather shorter loop southwards towards Trieste's other main railway station, the Trieste Campo Marzio railway station (it), south of the central station. This line no longer operates, and the Campo Marzio station is now a railway museum.[40]

To facilitate freight traffic between the two stations and the nearby dock areas, a temporary railway line known as the Rivabahn was built along the waterfront in 1887.[citation needed] This railway 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. Freight services 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.[40]

Passenger rail service to Trieste mostly consists of trains to and from Venice, connecting there with high-speed trains to Rome and Milan at Mestre. There are also direct trains to Verona, Turin, Milan, Rome, Florence, Naples and Bologna. These trains reach the Trieste central station bypassing the Gulf of Trieste, connecting with the Südbahn's northern loop. As of 2012, there are no passenger trains between Italy and Slovenia.

Trieste could in the remote future be connected to the Italian TAV railway network: a 300-kilometre-per-hour (190 mph) fast train route would possibly connect Trieste with Venice. As a matter of fact, this project will not be completed earlier than 2020. In the meanwhile passenger will continue to enjoy 90'-120' trips from Venice to Trieste to cover 150 kilometres (93 mi).[41]

Air transport[edit]

Trieste is served by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Airport (IATA code: TRS), located 30 minutes away from the city, at Ronchi near Monfalcone at the head of the Gulf of Trieste. There are many national and international destinations available.

Local transport[edit]

Local public transport is operated by Trieste Trasporti, which operates a network of around 60 bus routes and two boat services. They also operate the Opicina Tramway, a hybrid between tramway and funicular railway providing a more direct link between the city centre and Opicina.[42]

Notable people[edit]

International relations[edit]


In recent years, Trieste has hosted a number of high level bilateral and multilateral meetings such as: the Italo-Russian Bilateral Summit in 2013 (Letta-Putin) and the Italo-German Bilateral Summit in 2008 (Berlusconi-Merkel); the G8 meetings of Foreign Affairs and Environment Ministers respectively in 2009 and 2001.

Sister cities / Twin towns[edit]

Trieste is twinned with:

See also[edit]




  1. ^ a b "Total Resident Population on 1st January 2011 by sex and marital status. Province: Trieste". National Institute of Statistics (Italy). 19 September 2011. Retrieved 29 December 2012. 
  2. ^ Trieste. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved September 21, 2012
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Spezialortsrepertorium der österreichischen Länder. Bearbeiten auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Volkszälung vom 31. Dezember 1910, vol. 7: Österreichisch-Illyrisches Küstenland . 1918. Vienna: K. k. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, pp. 1, 3.
  7. ^ "Climate in Trieste". AmbiWeb GmbH. Retrieved 11 December 2013. 
  8. ^ a b Roberto Pedemonte (May 2012). "La neve sulle coste del Maditerraneo (seconda parte)". Rivista Ligure (in Italian) (Genova) 12 (44). Retrieved 28 June 2014. 
  17. ^ "La storia, parte 10". 2007-01-15. Retrieved 2011-09-15. 
  19. ^ "Faenza, Trieste and home - the Italian campaign | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". 2012-12-20. Retrieved 2013-03-12. 
  20. ^ Author: Kay, Robin. "IV: Through the Venetian Line". NZETC. Retrieved 2013-03-12. 
  22. ^ Arrigo Petacco (2005). Tragedy Revealed: The Story of Italians from Istria, Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia, 1943-1956. University of Toronto Press. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-8020-3921-7. Retrieved 29 December 2012. 
  23. ^ Petacco p.90
  25. ^ "British Element Trieste Forces - Order of Battle". Retrieved 21 June 2014. 
  26. ^ "La Cantieristica Triestina" [Trieste naval industries] (in Italian). Retrieved 29 December 2012. 
  27. ^ "Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Europe - Infrastructure Networks". 2000-07-07. Retrieved 2010-04-19. 
  28. ^ The company in figures
  30. ^ [1]
  31. ^
  33. ^
  36. ^ ISTAT. "Trieste". ISTAT. Retrieved 2012-06-06. 
  37. ^ The parish forms part of the Metropolitanate of Zagreb, Ljubljana and all Italy.
  38. ^ "Calcio.". Harper Perennial. Retrieved June 13, 2008. 
  40. ^ a b c d e Ammann, Christian; Juvanec, Maj (May 2007). "Discovering Trieste". Today's Railways (Platform 5 Publishing Ltd). pp. 29–31. 
  41. ^ "Le linee Alta Velocità: Storia e traguardi" [History of the Italian "Alta Velocità"] (in Italian). Ferrovie dello Stato. Retrieved 27 December 2012. 
  42. ^ "Trieste Trasporti S.p.A.". Trieste Trasporti S.p.A. Retrieved April 27, 2007. 

External links[edit]