Trieste has a long and checkered history, a unique blend of ethnicities, cultures, religions and political systems. For centuries it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the 1930s it became a fascist bastion, fueled by the influx of slavic refugees who provided an easy target for nationalism. Immediately after World War Two, Trieste, on the border with Yugoslavia, was recognised as a free state under international law, though it remained under military occupation until 1954, when it was returned to Italy. For Churchill it was the southern outpost of the “Iron Curtain” dividing the West from the communist East.

The architecture of the city mirrors this past. The main square, Piazza dell’ Unita, has three sides occupied by splendid Habsburg buildings; the fourth is the sea. A plaque commemorates the spot where Mussolini announced his policy of racial laws against the Jews. The Catholic Church of Saint Antonio shares space on the Grand Canal with the Serbian Orthodox Church; the synagogue is two minutes away.

 

If you think of the lay-out as concentric half-circles, this is the core of the historical wealth of the town, with shipping insurance buildings, town hall, stock exchange and so on, flanked by yacht and industrial harbors. The next ring up consists of small alleys (formerly the ghetto) leading to streets with imposing houses of the (upper middle class.)

 

Eventually you get to the real, non-touristy quarters where much of the population lives, and then the peripheral apartment blocks for the working class.

 

 

 

It is a city of riches, which those who fight for Trieste’s independence on the basis of a 1947 United Nations Security Council charter (which recognised Trieste and its surroundings – including parts of what is now Croatia and Slovenia – as a free state, with both Italian and Slovenian as official languages, subject to the appointment of an internationally recognised governor,) don’t want to share with Italy. They get laughed off by both the law and their fellow Triesteans, who have a rather optimistic outlook on life and easy going mentality.

And when you walk so much you find the best little osterias sans touristes…..