The name is a little misleading….Trieste doen’t have a Metro line and for now, and Google search brings up just the local “Restaurant Depot” style store METRO in Valmaura. But, just like mushrooms sprouting after our rainy spring, 111 new totems have “popped up” around the city of Trieste: 111 totems outlining 7 itinieraries around…
Wow, no one really knows how this summer is going to pan out. Theoretically “the worst is over” but then there are concerns of a “second wave”. Right now we are living in this world of contrasts wondering if plans made long ago should still be fulfilled. Many of us hoping to see family overseas…
Many of us are starting to mull over what to do this summer. Taking planes, even trains might still seem a little risky. While Trieste is one of those cities that offers lots of options; water sports, cycling, hiking, cultural events etc. one does want a change of scenery every now and then. Luckily, we…
While Trieste and the rest of Italy are trying to bravely return to normality, we might see instances of bacchanal frenzy , but mostly we see tepid attempts to resume regular activities. Going to a popular cafe’ over the holiday weekend, you see contradictions: people trying to drink, eat and talk with masks half on…
It seems incredible that after 4 years of living here, I’m still able to uncover things about this city that I never knew before. It seems that Trieste is the birthplace of Italy’s commercial air travel. 97 years ago, commercial flights began departing from Trieste. Yes, I know, that seems very far-fetched and yet it’s…
Going to catch the number 9 bus on Viale Mazzini, one passes a building with the inscription Hotel de la Ville. Just the name transports me; I immediately envision corsetted women with elegant bustles and bootlets, with dizzying amounts of laces walking with their moustached gentlemen in top hats and carrying walking canes. It’s hard…
We are lucky to live on the Gulf of Trieste, it is always spectacular. Some days it is flat and slick like a mirror without even a ripple. Other times it is churning with cresting white caps thanks to the bluster of the Bora. Sometimes it is a myriad of baby pinks and blues at…
So many Italian cities, towns and regions have symbols to represent them. Some are associated with an historic landmark or a cathedral. Others use their heraldic seals to represent them and for some, there are architectural details or decorative items that represent them like the winged lion of Venice or the Pomo of Puglia or the…
Walking around Trieste, one often stumbles upon a beautiful building that has been shuttered for many years, if not decades… relics of a once vibrant past when the city was the epicenter of trade and culture as the port city of the Austrian Empire. Often one hears descriptions of these once great palazzi; the beautiful…
Jutting out above the rive (waterfront) 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…
With All Saints Day coming upon us, I could have easily recycled one of the articles on the famous Fave Triestine, the tri-colored “Day of the Dead” cookies that are ubiquitous in shop windows this time of year, but instead I want to tell you about where you can actually visit the dead here in…
Here we are coming up on Halloween and all I can think of is Venzone. Host to the annual Festa della Zucca, the Pumpkin Festival, for the last 27 years, I have been jonesing to go and see for myself both the town and the festivities. Like a child hopped up on halloween candy, I have…
This year, Trieste celebrates 51 years of the Barcolana Autumn Cup Regatta (La Barcolana), organized by the Società Velica di Barcola e Grignano. This is one of Trieste’s premiere events for locals and visitors alike and is the world’s largest regatta. For 2019’s race, the organization had to place a cap of 2,700 on the number of entries, as the…
I have lived next door to this Villa since I moved to Trieste. Sealed off to the public by iron gates and a stone wall and video cameras with a sign warning “Military Zone – Keep Out – Armed Guards” I was of course even more curious to understand how this once beautiful villa came to…
The Basilica Paleocristiana (Early Christian Basilica) is of significant religious and artistic importance to Trieste. Built between the 4th and 6th centuries AD, it is located in via Madonna del Mare in Cavana, an area that fell outside the walls of ancient Trieste (Tergeste) along a road dotted with burial sites leading to the Roman…
