Often referred to as the “lungs” of the city, Trieste’s parks and gardens offer pleasant refuge from the dog days of summer and lovely displays of color in spring and fall. Trieste’s main gardens prominently featuring botanical specimens are: The Civico Orto Botanico: Established in 1842 the city-run botanical garden is a small but lush…
Many people don’t realize how sprawling Trieste is. It’s not just what you see when you are down on the waterfront – Trieste is a multicultural and multilingual metropolis and it offers a very diverse landscape – from the popular Rive on the seaside, to tiny towns nestled in the Carso, to the old city,…
I recently read an article by a fellow American and writer, Noah Charney, who lives in Slovenia, about his Ski and Swim Challenge. Basically, Slovenia, our lovely neighbor to the north and east, boasts “that the country is so compact, with such a diversity of terrain, that you can ski in the morning and swim…
People often complain that Trieste is so remote — and Triestines joke that they like it that way! But in fact, this famous gateway to “MittleEurope” is undergoing a transformation to make it even more accessible. The biggest news is that starting March 19, 2018, there will be a new train connection between Trieste…
Trieste doesn’t disappoint on New Year’s Eve, (“la vigilia di Capodanno”). Celebrations abound at clubs, restaurants and bars throughout the city and this year, New Year’s eve celebrations also return to the beautiful medieval Castello San Giusto, offering a prime position from which to view the fireworks over the gulf of Trieste. The party in…
Trieste’s City Hall or Municipio is the most iconic landmark of the City. It presides over Europe’s largest piazza overlooking the sea. It is beautiful in the day and even more so at night, when it is illuminated. Designed by Giuseppe Bruni, it was built between 1873 and 1875 on the site previously occupied by the Magistrate’s Palace and Loggia, incorporating…
Just north of Trieste is Borgo Grotta Gigante, home to one of the world’s largest tourist caves, second only to La Verna cave in south-western France. The cave, aptly named Grotta Gigante (Giant cave) is also known as Riesengrotte or as Grotta di Brisciachi, and is located on the Italian side of the Karst. Its central cavern is 107…
While visiting the Museo Diocesano in Udine recently, I came upon an unusual collection of small paintings. Each one depicted a particularly gruesome scene; someone falling from a rooftop, someone being gored in the eye by a bull, someone being trampled by a carriage and so on. They reminded me of the terrible illustrations…
Located in the heart of Trieste is the ancient Teatro Romano. Dating back to the 1st Century AD it was built by Quintus Petronius Modestus, a statesman during the reign of Emperor Trajan (who was step-father to Hadrian). The Roman Theatre is nestled at the foot of the hill of San Giusto whose slope provided…
For a city on the sea, Trieste surprisingly has very few places in town where to eat on the waterfront. City planners promise there will be more to come, but in the meantime, these are the ones I would recommend for enjoying the view, the food and sometimes both. Some are better than others but…
Udine is, as the locals say, “the Milan” of the FVG region, meaning it is industrious, full of hard working people and often finds itself a little out of step with its more leisurely and chill neighbors. Not often considered a tourist destination, it is in fact ideally situated in the Province of Udine which…
Jutting out above the Rive from the Molo (pier) 23 is Trieste’s unofficial mascot, URSUS. A piece of industrial archeology dating back to 1913, it is one of the largest and oldest floating steel cranes in the world. Outfitted with an electrical system, motors and 2 rudders the crane is equipped with an arm able…
The Triestine people live for the sun and the sea. With the arrival of the first day of “good sun” (tanning sun) you begin to see the march towards the sea. Like ants to a food source, the procession of ladies and men begins… All to the seaside to work on their tans. They arrive in their…
Just 45 minutes from Trieste is one of the most unusual and interesting museums I’ve seen. It is a museum dedicated to farm-life and the history of farming in the Friuli region. The large and impressive collection of over 20,000 items (with more coming in every day) is housed in an old farmstead in the center of the…
The legend of the “Lady in White” is a common one around the world. Often, it refers to the ghost of a woman who, in life, has suffered abuse or unbearable tragedy so as to deprive her of peace in the afterlife. Even Trieste has its “lady in white” — in fact — there are even a…
