Editing Trieste (section)

== History ==

A Roman colony in the 1st century BC (with the name "Tergeste," of Paleo-Venetian origin), the city was fortified by Octavian (the future Augustus) in 32 BC. and developed under [[Trajan]]. After the fall of the Western Empire it was mainly a military colony was under the Byzantine Empire until 788, when it became a Frankish dominion, from which the bishops received temporal authority, which they exercised until the establishment of the commune towards the end of the 12th century. This led to conflicts with the Republic of Venice, which defeated it several times between 1202 and 1369, until the Triestine people sought the protection of the Habsburgs, Dukes of Austria (1382), an act which gradually ushered in centuries-long subjection.

Thus, after a tumultuous period of civic progress, Trieste closed itself off and isolated itself, but retained its Italian identity. In the 18th century, having become a free port, it benefited from the enlightened despotism of Maria Theresa of Austria, who encouraged the renewal of commercial and financial activity (while Venice was declining), gave the city new social structures, and initiated building renovation. After the French and Restoration periods, the new middle class developed important initiatives (shipbuilding industries and insurance companies). However, Irredentism had by now become a strong liberal and national movement that pushed the city toward union with Italy, which occurred in 1918 with the end of the First World War.

From an economic perspective, the union was not profitable, despite the launch of new industrial activities, due to the diminished importance of the port, which no longer represented the great gateway to Northeastern Europe. Remaining under Allied military control at the end of the Second World War, the city had to wait until 1954 to return to Italy, after having lost part of its provincial territory. The London Memorandum assigned Zone A of the never-established Free Territory of Trieste (including the Julian capital and the coastal strip up to Duino) under civil administration to the Italian government and Zone B to the Yugoslav government. The border issue was resolved only in 1975 with the signing of the Treaty of Osimo, when the changed international conditions allowed for a bilateral agreement that definitively sanctioned the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding.