DUINO B&B ADRIA SISTIANA BED AND BREAKFAST ZIMMER
Guide
to Central Trieste
This
is not simply a piazza, but the very heart of Trieste: its
lounge, its soul, its business centre, as well as the
commercial and political centre. Very busy of course during
the week , it plays an important role on Sundays mornings
when thousands of people descend on this large European
piazza that overlooks the sea. Here, they drink coffee, meet
friends, colleagues and acquaintances, all in a very unique
atmosphere. The piazza also accommodates many concerts,
festivals, shows and exhibitions.
Shaped
in a perfect rectangle and surrounded by amazing palaces:
the Municipio with its clock tower; the Stratti, housing
General Insurance and also the Caffè degli Specchi and the
Palazzo del Lloyd Trestino, which once housed the oldest
Italian navigation company. Finally there is also the
Prefettura or government palace and the lovely liberty
building that houses the fine Duca d'Aosta hotel. And at the
piazza.'s centre stands the 18th century Quattro Continenti
fountain, the former terminal of the Maria Teresa d'Austria
acqueduct. It would be a grave sin to visit Trieste and not
having a coffee in this lovely piazza.The present set up of
the Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia dates back to the nineteenth
century. A vast rectangle overlooking the sea, the piazza
contains the Town Hall at its far end, an electic
construction of extreme interest by Giuseppe Bruni (1877).
Nineteenth century buildings line up the two sides of the
piazza, such as the Palazzo Modello by Bruni, the Casa
Stratti (housing the Caffé degli Specchi), the Palazzo del
Governo (Palace of the Government), the Lloyd Triestino
palace by Enrico Ferstel, today's Hotel Duchi d'Aosta by
Geiringer and, finally, the most notable Baroque building in
Trieste, namely the Palazzo Pitteri by Ulderico Moro (1790).
Immediately opposite is the Mazzoleni fountain (1750),
representing the 4 Continents known at the time, with
Charles VI's Baroque column next to it.
Der
Hauptplatz oder Piazza Grande, ist der größte in Triest,
am Meer, und geht aufs vergangene Jahrhundert zurück. Der
Platz entwickelte sich vom Mittelalter an bruchstückhaft
ohne besonderen Stil.
Als
die Stadt einen ökonomischen Aufschwung erlebte, wurde auch
der Platz umgewandelt,d.h. verbessert. Die ehemaligen
Gebäude, außer Palazzo Pitteri, wurden niedergerissen und
dort wurde ein regelmäßiger und monumentaler Platz
geschaffen.
Diesen
weiten rechteckigen Platz umschließt an der
gegenüberliegenden Seite das Rathausgebäude (Giuseppe
Bruni, 1877).
Seitlich umfangen den Platz Bauten aus dem 19. Jahrhundert,
wie Palazzo Modello (G. Bruni,1871), Casa Stratti mit
Fassadendekoration von 1872 (seit seiner Eröffnung war es
der Standort eines der berühmtesten Cafes der Stadt: Caffè
degli Specchi), Palazzo del Governo (1905) mit bunten und
goldenen Mosaiksteinen geschmückt, gegenüber Palazzo del
Lloyd Triestino, ehmals Lloyd Austriaco, das heutige Hotel
Duchi d'Aosta, und schließlich Palazzo Pitteri (U.
Moro,1790), das älteste Gebäude des Platzes.
Vor
letzterem Gebäude steht ein Brunnen (Mazzoleni,1750), der
die damals bekannten vier Kontinente darstellt, daneben
erhebt sich die Ehrensäule Karls VI, dessen linken Hand den
Hafen zeigt.
Palazzo
Pitteri, der Brunnen und die Säule sind die einzigen
Erinnerungen an das 18. Jh., und bilden eine barockische
Ecke auf dem Platz.
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The
Stock Exchange Square
The
current home of the Chamber of Commerce constitutes one of
Trieste's most important examples of neo-classical
architecture. The building presents itself as a Greek temple
in doric style adorned with a spacious portico and four
large columns and a bell tower at the top.
On the ground floor of the façade, stand four 1806 statues,
works of Venetian artists, representing Europe, Africa,
(sculptured by Bartolomeo Ferrari), Asia (by Domenico Banti)
and America (by Antonio Bosa, pupil of Canova). On the level
with the windows on the nobles' floor however, the facade is
decorated with statues depicting Vulcan and Mercury and on
the balustrade we find the Danube, the genie of Trieste,
Minerva and Neptune, protector of seafarers. This is one of
the city's main piazzas and is next to the Piazza dell'Unita
d'Italia, Trieste's life and soul: the Specchi, Tommaseo an
Tergesteo cafes are all within a 100m radius.
From
the magnificent Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia the Capo di
Piazza leads to Piazza della Borsa.
On
the left before Piazza della Borsa is the great square
building called the Tergesteo, formerly customs
headquarters and the city governor's residence. While the
exterior presents simplelines (including marble statue
groups representing Trade, Industry and Shipping), the
interior is built to a remarkable design: a huge glass
vaulted cross, designed by A. Buttazzoni and constructed by
F Bruyn between 1840 and 1842. It also acts a covered
walkway between Piazza della Borsa and Piazza del Teatro.
Triangular
in shape, Piazza della Borsa is bounded by buildings from a
range of epochs and in varying styles.
The
square gets its name from the Old Stock Exchange (Borsa
Vecchia), now the seat of the Chamber of Commerce.
It
was built (1799-1806) to a design by A. Mollari. In
neo-Classical style, the building has a pronaos marked out
by four great Doric columns which form a large concourse.
On the ground-level exterior are statues symbolizing Asia,
Vulcan, Europe, Africa, Mercury and America.
The
top of the pediment bears sculptures
representing the Genius of Trieste, Neptune, Minerva and the
Danube. The bas-reliefs symbolizing Trade, Shipping,
Industry and Plenty are by A. Basa, who was also
responsible, with his son, for the historical scenes
decorating the grand central salon.
Seen
from the front of the Old Stock Exchange, to the right
is Palazzo Dreher
(The New Stock Exchange), whose sumptuously curving façade
gives it a striking presence in the square. In contrast with
its richly decorated exterior is a soberly functional
interior (1929), designed by the architect Geiringer after
the style of G. Pulitzer Finali who, with the Stuard studio,
formed the modern Trieste style of the time, especially in
naval architecture.
Palazzo
Dreher stands at the beginning of Via Cassa di Risparmio,
where is the seat of the bank of the same name, designed in
16th-century style by E. Nordio. Opposite Palazzo Dreher is
the Renaissance-style Casa Rusconi, designed by G.
Scalmanini. The third floor of the building houses the
fashion and style studio of Anita Pittoni, an innovatory
textile designs since the end of the 19205. In the
opposite corner, at the junction of Corso Italia and Via
Roma, is the Palazzina Romano, a sober specimen of
18th-century architecture restored by G. Polli in 1919 and
1920.
Opposite
the Old Stock Exchange the green building of the Casa
Bartoli (1905, designed by M. Fabiani) informs us of a
direct contact with the Wagnerschule, to which Fabiani
belonged. Housing shops and flats, the Casa is
distinguished by broad glass surfaces and a graffiti
decoration bearing witness to the local variation of Art
Nouveau.
On
the right of Corso Italia from Piazza della Borsa begins the
Piacentini complex (19351939), which stands as the most
striking architectural manifestation of the urban planning
associated with the large-scale demolition of the old city
in the 19305. Cutting an imposing figure in the area's
architectural fabric, this building has a long central
arcade decorated, as are its entrances, with frescoes by
Carlo Sbisà, an artist who combined echoes of the
Renaissance with the contemporary spirit through a personal
reinvention.
The
triangle marked out by the buildings described here contains
a column surmounted by a bronze statue of Habsburg Emperor
Leopold I, erected to commemorate his visit to Trieste.
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Am Opernplatz - Piazza del Teatro Lirico dell'Opera |
Partendo da Piazza Libertà (che
si trova all'uscita della Stazione centrale dei Treni, a due
minuti dall'Hotel Milano), si imbocca la grande arteria che
da un lato costeggia il mare, mentre dall'altro è
delimitata dalle belle facciate degli storici palazzi della
cosiddetta "Città Nuova", overo del Borgo
Teresiano. Sul fronte sinistro, i numerosi ed
architettonicamente belli edifici lungo il percorso,
lasciano spazio prima al Canal Grande, una volta
molto più lungo e largo, che ospitava velieri e grossi
mercantili, simbolo del forte sviluppo economico di un tempo
dovuto all'istituzione del Porto Franco. Il Canale ospita
oggi imbarcazioni di piccole dimensioni, protagoniste,
assieme alla Chiesa di S. Antonio, della classica cartolina
che potete vedere anche in questa pagina. Ma uno dei simboli
più importanti della città è senz'altro la Piazza Grande,
una delle più grandi piazze affacciate direttamente sul
mare. Affacciati alla piazza il Palazzo del Municipio, il
palazzo Modello, il palazzo della Luogotenenza e
quello del Lloyd Austriaco. Situata in testa alla
piazza, la fontana barocca dei Quattro Continenti. Vicino,
la statua dell'Imperatore d'Austria Carlo VI, che, con
la proclamazione del Porto Franco, aveva promosso lo
sviluppo della città.
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ein
Bild von Triest
Ein
farbenprächtiges, wohl etwas übertriebenes Bild von Triest
und seinen Bewohnern gibt ein Bericht aus dem Jahr 1817:
»Und welch buntes Gewühle von Menschen aus allen Zonen! -
welche Vermischung aller Völker und Nationen unter
einander! Amerikaner und Teutsche, Britten und Neger, der
gelenkige Franzose und der indolente Türke, Tuneser und
polnische Juden, - ohne Unterschied durch einander gemischt,
- wahrlich ein sonderbarer Anblick.
In
vertraulichen Gesprächen steht Asiate und Europäer, Christ
und Heide, der krausköpfige Afrikaner und der weiße
Normann bey einander, und Nationen, die die Achse der Erde
von einander scheidet, oder die sich seit Jahrtausenden
verabscheuen und verfolgen, gesellen sich hier in ihren
Individuen freundschaftlich zusammen, und treiben
friedlichen Handel mit einander. [...] Hinweggebannt sind
Nationalhaß und Religionsfanatismus, kein Unterschied gilt
zwischen Glauben, Sitten, Kleidung und Gesichtsfarbe.«
Triest
war im 19. Jahrhundert eine mitteleuropäische Metropole und
Österreichs Tor zur Welt - reich, prächtig und geprägt
von einem kosmopolitischen Kaufmannsgeist, mehr an Wien und
Budapest erinnernd als an italienische Städte.
Einer
der spannendsten Schätze von Triest verbirgt sich hinter
der unscheinbaren Fassade des großbürgerlichen Wohnhauses
in der Via Imbriani 5: für 1,50 € Eintritt
kann man hier einen Ausflug in eine längst versunkene Welt
unternehmen, in die original erhaltene 14- Zimmer-Wohnung
eines wohlhabenden jüdischen Kaufmanns namens Mario
Morpurgo, der hier auf 600 Quadratmetern zwischen
Samttapeten, Kristall-Lüstern, Rokoko-Möbeln und
Intarsien-Parkett mit Gattin und Schwester bis zu seinem Tod
residierte.
Er
vermachte seine vollständig erhaltene Wohnung der Kommune.
Die machte daraus ein einzigartiges Museum, das bis heute
aussieht, als hätte der Hausherr sein Domizil gerade erst
verlassen - bis hin zum Nachttopf im Schlafzimmer.
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In parallelo al Molo
Audace si trova il Molo Bersaglieri, che
accoglie la Stazione Marittima, tipico
edificio degli anni Trenta, da diversi anni ormai
trasformato in Centro Congressi. Segue poi il
molo Pescheria, alla cui radice sta un edificio
racchiuso in una forma decorativa liberty. Ospita
tutt'ora il visitabile l'Aquario Marino, e
l'ormai dismessa Pescheria. Viene poi il Molo
Venezia, il primo della "sacchetta"
che descrive un ampio arco concluso dalla mole
neoclassica della vecchia Lanterna e
comprende i moli Sartorio e Fratelli
Bandiera. Perciò, giunti all'altro capo delle
rive, è visibile la dismessa Stazione ferroviaria
di Campo Marzio, spesso location ideale per film
d'epoca, in quanto meravigliosa costruzione intatta
in stile liberty. Essa ospita al suo interno il Museo
Ferroviario.
In un edificio non molto distante viene ospitato
invece il Museo del Mare.
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Voluto dall'Imperatore
Traiano, e costruito tra il I ed il II secolo d.C.,
il Teatro Romano è oggi ubicato sulla via omonima.
Fu portato alla luce non molti anni fa, e
precisamente con gli scavi del 1938, assieme a molte
statue che ora sono patrimonio artistico dei Civici
Musei di Storia ed Arte. E' stato abbastanza
recentemente restaurato in modo da essere reso
agibile per spettacoli a cielo aperto, anche se il
numero delle persone che vi possono essere ospitate
è oggi inferiore alle originarie 6.000 unità. Gli
spettatori di un tempo ebbero inoltre la
possibilità di assistere a meravigliosi tramonti,
perchè il mare, a quell'epoca, giungeva fino a lì,
a ridosso del teatro.
Dietro al teatro è possibile risalire a piedi la
via Donota, e raggiungere la cima del Colle di S.
Giusto, che ospita l'omonomo Castello e Basilica .
Davanti al teatro, dove
all'epoca c'era il mare, c'è oggi il Palazzo della
Questura, dal lato del quale è possibile entrare
nel "Ghetto Ebraico", dove gli amanti
delle antichità potranno trovare molti negozi di
antiquariato interessanti e ben forniti. (vedi
scheda del Mercatino dell'antiquariato)
Superata anche questa zona la città vi si aprirà
con la vastità della più importante piazza
cittadina, Piazza Unità d'Italia, la più grande
Piazza europea aperta sul mare.
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Trieste
is very rich in museums: it possesses collections of both
great artistic value and historical curiosities. It was the
fashion of patronage in the XIX century which enriched the
town with collections such as Pasquale Revoltella's donation
(1869), which is certainly the most valuable one. He was a
very active businessman who often personally took part in
the materialization of important works. Suffice it to
mention the opening of the Suez Canal, of which he was one
of the main financers; so much so that he eventually took up
the vicepresidency of the Company. Neoclassicism, Verism,
Romanticism, Impressionism, Divisionism, Fauvism, Futurism,
Abstractionism: currents of all periods are represented.
Since one of the clauses of the legacy envisaged the need to
enlarge the section of contemporary art, the Museo
Revoltella has recently undergone an extension of the
building which houses the collection, on a design by
architect Scarpa. Among other museums, the most important
one is the Civico Museo di Storia ed Arte (Town Museum of
History and Art) on the Colle di San Giusto, where it is
possible to admire a collection of archaeology, art,
history, economy, craftmanship, ethnography and various
curiosities, and which, besides the ancient, medieval and
modern lapidaries, presents documents ranging from the
Pre-history to the Roman Age, with a medieval appendix. The
Civico Museo Sartorio, which was originally a private
residence of the XIX century, retains its peculiar feature
as the dwelling of a family belonging to the Trieste upper
class, always open to refined taste and the collection of
objets d'art. Besides a rich library, it contains a splendid
collection of drawings and a marvellous oil sketch by
Tiepolo. A series of apartments on the first floor is still
intact, with the original decorations of a period that
gradually developed from Neoclassicism into the ecleptism of
the historical styles. The Museo Morpurgo is also worth
mentioning, as it still contains the donor's sumptuous
furniture. Other town institutions are lodged in the same
building, namely the Museo di Storia Patria (Museum of
Italian History), with various paintings, prints and objects
connected with particular events of the town, and the
Stavropoulos Collection, a rich collection of works by
Italian and Hungarian artists, of the XIX and XX century in
particular.
Finally a remarkable collection is that of the Fondazione
Scaramangà, created on the will of the last member of the
old Greek families in order to keep the 6,500 pieces that
make it up united, "always at the service of the town
and scholars". Palazzo Biserini (1802) in Piazza Hortis
contains the Civico Museo di Storia Naturale (Town Museum of
Natural History), founded by E. Kock in 1846 and the
Biblioteca Civica (Town Library). The latter has 400,000
books approximately, some of which are of great value. The
collection of the codes of the town statutes, starting from
the one of 1318, is remarkable. Moreover, the Petrarchian
codes are invaluable; the 84 volumes were bought and then
donated by legacy to the town by Domenco Rossetti. The
Civico Museo del Mare (Town Sea Museum), too, has a remote
origin (1874). It is sited in the recently restored building
of the Lazzaretto di San Carlo (San Carlo Lazar House),
where there is a collection of models, relief models,
documents, instruments, chart of various periods and relics
of Giuseppe Ressel, the inventor of the propeller. A curious
collection of electric and steam-powered locomotives is held
in the old railway station of Campo Marzio, now no longer in
use, from which the lines to Central Europe departed. The
Museo Etnografico di Servola (Servola Ethnographical Museum)
is also peculiar: it collects objects of daly use as
memories of traditions and customs. The Galleria Nazionale
d'Arte Antica (National Gallery of Ancient Art) is sited in
Palazzo Economo, in Piazza Libertà. This Museum has a large
number of works from the Venetian and Lombard school, in
addition to the works by Crespi, Guardi, Bernini and
Canaletto. Cranach the Old) The monument of Guglielmo
Oberdan has been erected in Piazza Oberdan, where the
Irredentist from Trieste was arrested and then executed in
1882. The same building also contains the Museo del
Risorgimento, a rich collection of evidence of the events
which eventually led to the annexation of Trieste to Italy.
Finally, in the outskirts, in San Sabba, there is the
Risiera, a building used for rice-husking up to 1913, which
was then turned first into a Nazi then into a Titoist
extermination camp, now a national monument since 1965.
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"Trieste is an acquired taste, and a
taste so subtle it takes time to acquire, but when it works its
particular magic there is no escape."
Walking across the grand piazza one
afternoon, I encountered three of the finest buskers I have ever
heard, one a young woman playing the zither, with all its echoes of
The Third Man, and the other two men - one playing the clarinet, the
other the guitar - performing Gershwin so poignantly it took my breath
away.
It struck me that they all precisely
embodied Trieste's unique charm: its poignancy. There is an air of
onomatopoeic tristesse hanging around its once-proud shoulders like a
velvet cloak fraying ever so slowly at the edges.
Both sets of buskers were surrounded by
small crowds of people actually listening to them, and quietly dipping
into their pockets for the privilege.
The grand parade may have passed this city
of ghosts and melancholy by, but you can still hear the music in the
air - if you just allow yourself time to listen.
A
walking tour around Trieste should begin at San
Giusto, the largest hill in the city
and the site of many buildings which were erected at a time when
Trieste was still the ancient Roman city of Tergestum.
Standing
here on this large square, between the cathedral, the medieval
castle ( which has become one of the symbols of Trieste ) and
the remains of the basilica , you will be able to enjoy a
spectacular view.
It
will take in the gulf, the upland plains and the red roofs of the old
houses in the historic city center, leaving you with unforgettable
memories of your stay in this easternmost corner of Italy.
Next, visit the church which was born of the union between the two
preceding paleo-Christian basilicas, the castle (an excellent example
of a military construction) and then descend towards the sea along the
steep, narrow Via della Cattedrale.
Here,
as you approach the oldest part of the city (which the local council
has been in the process of restoring in recent years), you will pass
the Museum of Art History, the Orto lapidario (memorial garden), the
Benedictine monastery of San Cipriano, and, lower down the Roman
basilica of San Silvestro.
You
will find yourself walking down silent and narrow streets, inhabited
predominantly by elderly people, where there are few shops and even
fewer cars.
Many
of the archeological sites have been excavated, revealing the base of
a civil Basilica and an amphitheater. Under the Romans, the
well-located port became an important trading site. For the period
after the fall of the Roman Empire, only traces of Trieste's history
have been preserved, and it seems that the long series of barbarian
invasions and eventually the medieval battles for maritime control led
to many new rulers and minimal continuity.
In
the late 18th century, Trieste emerged again as an important port
under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this coupling had a
profound impact on the cultural, linguistic, gastronomic and military
history of Trieste. One of Trieste's (and arguably Italy's) most
moving poets, Umberto Saba, described his hometown in his poetry and
always observed the multi-layered history that was part of its past
and present.
Der
Triester Neuklassizismus beweist eindeutig, wie eine Kunstsprache
untrennbar an ihre Geschichte gebunden und zugleich deren Ausdruck
ist.
Das
kaufmännische Bürgertum, das ihre Macht und ihren Reichtum auf diese
Weise zum Ausdruck bringen wollte, identifizierte sich mit diesem
Stil.
So
wurden also die Kirche S. Antonio Taumaturgo, mit ihren einfachen und
zugleich imposanten klassizistischen Linien, eine Vielzahl von
Wohngebäuden, wie zum Beispiel der am Ufer gelegene Palais Carciotti,
sowie die Paläste des Borgo Teresiano (Josephinischen Viertels), das
später G. Verdi gewidmete neue Stadttheater, der Börsenpalast und
die anglikanische Kirche errichtet.
Regiert
wurde Triest von Fürstbischöfen, die allerdings ab 1081 nach und
nach unter die Oberhoheit des Patriarchats von Aquileia kamen und
somit ihre Autonomie verloren. Die darauffolgenden Ereignisse sind zum
Teil mit der Erbauung des Schlosses von San
Giusto verbunden. Sie sind mit Geschehnissen verknüpft, die zu
einem Grossteil von gewissen Interessen geleitetet und von den
politischen Entschei- dungen der benachbarten Regionen getragen
wurden, und sie haben die Freiheit und die Entwicklung der Stadt von
Mal zu Mal beeinflusse.
Die
erste urkundliche Erwähnung eines Schlosses geht auf das Jahr 1253
zurück.
Now,
leave the coast and head back to the Piazza dell'Unità and then on to
the Piazza della Borsa (a pedestrians area containing numerous
beautiful buildings) where you will find an old historical café
called the Tergesteo which stands beneath the gallery of the same
name. Then skirt around the police station until you get to the Teatro
Romano. This is a semi-circular construction dating back to the first
or second century A.D.
From here, you will reach the commercial heart of Trieste with its
shopping streets: Via Mazzini, Corso Italia, Via Carducci and Via
Battisti. On Via Battisti you will also find the Caffè San Marco
which with its typically Central European atmosphere has always been a
favored meeting place for literati and intellectuals, including the
writer Claudio Magris). This area is full of the best shops in the
city and is always clogged up with traffic.
The
Arco di Riccardo is a mere ten minutes walk away from San Giusto. This
was erected in 30 B.C. and formed an integral part of the city wall
during the Augustine period. If it's lunchtime, you will find a small
restaurant (between partially ruined old houses) serving up regional
cuisine in a relaxed setting where you can dine inexpensively.
If you continue down the Via Felice Venezian, you will get to the
Trieste seafront facing the sea. In front, you will see
the Station Maritime a beautiful building dating back to the
1930's which houses the largest congress center in the
province.
Around fifty or sixty meters away to your right, you will see the
Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia which is the largest seaside square in
Europe. This piazza is held in very high regard by the people of
Trieste, and it is in fact an amazing sight.
It
contains buildings dating back to the eighteenth century and the early
nineteenth century which house the town hall, the prefecture, the
regional council, the Assicurazioni Generali, the Duchi d'Aosta
Hotel one of the city's most elegant and a lot of
Cafés which attracts hundreds of people from all over Trieste
every day and night. ( Unsurpassed night view of the illuminated Palazzi
and of the crowded open air Bars and Cafès....)
It
is, in short the heart of Trieste.
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Mehr
als nur ein Hauch des alten Habsburg liegt heute noch über
dem Landstrich zwischen Grado und Triest. Bis 1918 wehten
über dem berühmten Badeort auf der Laguneninsel wie über
der geschäftigen Hafenstadt an der oberen Adria die Farben
der Donaumonarchie. Triest war im 19. Jahrhundert eine
mitteleuropäische Metropole und Österreichs Tor zur Welt:
reich, prächtig und geprägt von einem kosmopolitischen
Kaufmannsgeist, mehr an Wien und Budapest erinnernd als an
italienische Städte.
The Arco di Riccardo is a mere ten minutes walk away from
San Giusto. This was erected in 30 B.C. and formed an
integral part of the city wall during the Augustine period.
If it's lunchtime, you will find a small restaurant (between
partially ruined old houses) serving up regional cuisine in
a relaxed setting where you can dine inexpensively.
If you continue down the Via Felice Venezian, you will get
to the Trieste seafront facing the sea. In
front, you will see the Station Maritime a beautiful
building dating back to the 1930's which houses the
largest congress center in the province.
Around fifty or sixty meters away to your right, you will
see the Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia which is the largest
seaside square in Europe. This piazza is held in very high
regard by the people of Trieste, and it is in fact an
amazing sight.
It contains
buildings dating back to the eighteenth century and the
early nineteenth century which house the town hall, the
prefecture, the regional council, the Assicurazioni
Generali, the Duchi d'Aosta Hotel one of the city's
most elegant and a lot of Cafés which
attracts hundreds of people from all over Trieste every day
and night. ( Unsurpassed night view of the illuminated Palazzi
and of the crowded open air Bars and Cafès....)
It is,
in short the heart of Trieste.
If you continue along the coast in the direction of the
train station, you will see evidence of elegant
nineteenth-century Trieste: neo-classical and Art Nouveau
buildings including the Teatro Verdi , the Carciotti Palace
(with its beautiful façade divided by six ionic columns) as
well as the Canal Grande (built as a trade route) which runs
inland from the sea towards the center of Trieste.
From the large jetty on your left, you will be able to take
in an unsurpassed night view of the illuminated coast. As
the poet Umberto Saba wrote, the beauty of Trieste is in its
variety; every corner you turn is like entering a different
continent. You will find Italy, the South, Austria, the
East, the Levant with its market traders in red fez's
and lots more besides.
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Walking down
the Riva Nazario Sauro, towards the old Lanterna, we come
across the Stazione Marittima, converted into a modern
Conference Centre and a brick-red construction dominated by
a small bell-tower. This is the Pescheria Centrale (the
Central Fish-market), which the locals confidentially call
"Santa Maria del Guato". On its side is the
entranceway to the Aquarium, with its collection of marine
fauna. With the pulling down of the medieval walls and the
reclamations of the ancient salines, the eighteenth century
saw a radical reorganization of the city, ordered by Maria
Theresa of Austria, the resolute empress who gave a decisive
impulse to the economic development of Trieste, turning it
into one of the main ports in Europe. On those buildable
areas snatched from the sea, around the canal where
sailing-ships would moor, loaded with goods fromm all over
the world, is the Borgo Teresiano, the first stage of an
innovative process which was bound to affect the
architectural development of the city. The houses, in fact,
do not provide many Baroque or Rococo examples, style which
were spread all over Europe, but on the contrary it is the
Neo-classic style which prevails. To begin with, the houses
belonged to entrepeneurs and traders who used the various
storeys for their profession (the ground floors as
warehouses, the second floors as offices), their families
(private flats on the first floors and top floors for the
staff and servants) and the social class they belonged to
was easily identifiable. A city undergoing such a rapid
development with a remarkable use of economic resources was
bound to attract a large number of skilled craftsmen and
sculptors, who embellished their works with decorations,
statues and bas-reliefs. Among the buildings worthy of
attention is the imposing Palazzo Carciotti by Matteo
Pertsch, overlooking the sea. Today, it has become the
headquarters of the Harbour Office. Further significant
examples in the Neoclassic style are provided by the Rotonda
Panzera, which took its name after the peculiar outline of
its façade (Matteo Pertsch -1818) and the church of S.
Antonio Taumaturgo planned by Pietro Nobile and last
noteworthy Neo-classic construction in Trieste, consecrated
in 1849. In the Piazza della Borsa (the Stock-Exchange
Square) the palace by A. Mollary (1806), bearing the same
name, today houses the Chamber of Commerce, with a
four-columned portico and allegoric statues decorating its
façade. The statues represent Asia, Volcano, Europe,
Mercury, Africa and America. At the top of the palace are
the statues of Neptune and Minerva, the Genius of Trieste
and the Danube. The massive building to its left is the
Tergesteo, erected in 1842, with its ground floor crossed by
a cross-vaulted arcade which, designed as a business centre,
was subsequently used as Stock Exchange and today has become
one of the citizens' favourite meeting places. The Palazzo
Dreher can be seen on the right-hand side and it is here
that the Stock Exchange was moved in 1928. Further to the
right, two remarkable buildings can be observed: the Casa
Rusconi and the present head-office of the Credito Italiano,
one of the few examples of Baroque architecture in Trieste.
A bronze statue of Leopold I, emperor of Austria, dominates
the square from the top of a column. The appearance of Art
Nouveau in Trieste is related to Max Fabiani's
protorationalism, a kind of reaction against the
omnipresence of historical styles. Structural simplicity,
rational distribution of space, lightly decorated façades
are the main features of Fabiani's work, which can be
admired in the beautiful Casa Bartoli in the Piazza della
Borsa (1905). Pronounced arkes and window paintings make
possible the coexistence of the Casa Bartoli with the
building of the Bank of America and Italy (Costaperaria,
(1912) the entrance of which is guarded by two
naturalistic-style bronze statues. Once again, in the Viale
XX Settembre, two buxom female figures support cinema Eden's
façade, which provides evidence that the Trieste
architectural trend, though looking at Vienna and Milan for
cultural inspiration, always shows some original features.
Depaoli is the architect of the building at no. 22 in the
Corso (1908) and Casa Smolars (1907) on the corner of the
Via Dante and the Via Mazzini.
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The
'30s mark an historically important moment for architecture,
and not only in Italy. A well-structured and magniloquent
complex by Piacentini belongs to this period (1935) and
stands right opposite the ruins of the ancient Roman
Theatre. Brought to light in 1938, the latter was built
between the first and the second century A.D. thanks to the
munificence of Quintus Petronius Modestus, emperor
Traianus's procurator and flamen who was born in Trieste.
Lying on the slope of the hill, in the Greek fashion, the
amphitheatre was able to hold about six thousand spectators
and the fixed proscenium, which used to be decorated with
statues that today are, in part, preserved at the Museo
Civico di Storia ed Arte, at the time looked onto the sea.
In the ancient Via Donota, which runs behind the Roman
Theatre, the ruins of the tower and the medieval gate of the
same name can be found. Proceding to the left is the Tor
Cucherna the best preserved tower of the fourteenth century
walls. The entranceway to the small yard of San Cipriano
opens at the end of the street. The church belongs to the
adjacent Benedictine monastery of San Cipriano, which ever
since the fifteenth century has given hospitality to the
enclosed nuns of the Cella of Trieste, founded in 1278. A
gentle deviation leads to the tiny church of San Silvestro -
which today belongs to the Helvetic and Waldensian Rite - a
unique example of linear Romanesque of balanced proportions
as well as the most ancient, totally preserved, house of
worship. It is held to have been built on the spot where two
local martyrs, Eufemia and Tecla, used to live. Immediately
next to it, there is the most attractive and imposing
Baroque, façade in Trieste: S. Maria Maggiore, also called
"dei Gesuiti". Started in 1627, on the plan by the
Jesuit Giacomo Briani, it was completed in 1682. The
tradition to ascribe the construction of the building to the
better known Father Andrea Pozzo is to be referred to a
subsequent and important extension of the church. Behind San
Silvestro, through the alleys of the Città Vecchia (the Old
Town), the Arco di Riccardo, an Augustan gate of the walls
erected in 33 B.C. rises in the Piazzetta Barbacan. Not far
from here, in the Via Madonna del Mare, the ruins of the
ancient homonymous basilica, destroyed in 1783, deserve
being admired. Here, two layers of mosaics lie one on top of
the other. The original one, with geometrical patterns, is
made up of white and gray tesserae. The upper mosaic, on the
contrary, is polychromous, with a variety of often original
geometric and phytoform patterns, among which is a
noteworthy series of inscriptions representing the first
documents on the oldest christian community, the
"sancta ecclesia tergestina", and the close
spiritual and material relations with the Aquilieia
community. Near the Roman Theatre, the Antiquarium is a
further place of particular interest where brought to light
in the course of recent excavations. Further up is San
Giusto Cathedral, which with its stones, ornaments and
vestments is an open book on the city's history.
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