Trieste

Trieste
File:Free Territory Trieste Flag.png
State	Italy
Province	Trieste
Altitude	Template:City data/Altitude
Population density	Template:City data/Population density
Map	45°39'01"N 13°46'13"E

Trieste is a city of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province and of the special-statute region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Trieste, on the Adriatic Sea, at the edge of the Karst plateau, near the border with Slovenia. It extends only partly over plains and enjoys a relatively mild climate; the northeast wind, which can reach speeds of 120-150 km/h, occasionally hampers urban and maritime activities.

The city is an important commercial center (it hosts, among other things, the International Trade Fair) and an industrial center, active in the shipbuilding, chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, iron and steel, metalworking, textile, paper, and tobacco sectors. The economy of the province (the smallest in Italy, covering only 2.7% of the regional territory), which comprises six municipalities along the innermost coastal strip of the gulf, is primarily based on agriculture (vines, fruit, and vegetables) and the fishing industry.

Urban Planning and Places of Interest

The oldest core, or "old city," of limited size (dating from Roman times to the early 18th century), is located on the hill of San Giusto; adjacent, to the north, is the Theresian expansion (developed between the late 18th and mid-19th centuries, with a regular network of streets), followed by new expansions in various directions, until the great, rapid building development of the 20th century.

Among the oldest monuments, noteworthy are the remains of the Basilica Forense and the Capitoline Temple (1st-2nd century AD) on the top of the hill, and, on the slopes, the contemporary theater and the so-called Arch of Richard (built in 33 BC). Also on the hill is the Cathedral of San Giusto, a 14th-century union of two basilica churches, with a large Gothic rose window and 12th-century Venetian-style mosaics. Also nearby are the Castle (1470-1630) and the Civic Museum of the Castle, which houses period furnishings and a collection of ancient weapons. Not far away is the Museum of History and Art, which displays archaeological material and 274 drawings by Giambattista Tiepolo.

Further down lies Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia, which overlooks the Palazzo Comunale (built in 1875). It opened in the 19th century towards the port, flanked by the ‘rive', avenues from which, among other things, the Audace pier (which has become a classic promenade for the people of Trieste) branches off. The destroyer Audace, from which it took its name, was the first to dock here on 3 November 1918. Nearby begins the Borgo Teresiano, or ‘new city', which reaches as far as Via Carducci, where there are predominantly 19th-century buildings, including neoclassical, Palazzo Carciotti by Matteo Pertsch (built between 1802 and 1805) and the church of Sant'Antonio Nuovo (1827-1842), aligned with the Grand Canal; On Viale XX Settembre, east of Via Carducci, stands the Eden Theatre, a 1906 Art Nouveau building by Giuseppe Sommaruga.

Among Trieste's numerous museums, noteworthy are the Revoltella Civic Museum, with its 19th-century furnishings and the Gallery of Modern Art; the Sartorio Civic Museum, housed in a neoclassical villa, which houses a collection of 15th-19th century ceramics; the Maritime Museum, with sections on shipbuilding and fishing; the National Museum of Ancient Art, with paintings from the 15th-19th centuries; the Risorgimento Museum, housed in the Guglielmo Oberdan Memorial building, near the site where the martyr was hanged by the Austrians in 1882; and the Resistance Museum, housed in the San Sabba rice mill, which was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp.

To the north of the city stands the large Victory Lighthouse, built in 1927, with a high lookout point overlooking the sea. On the karst plateau above, the Grotta Gigante is a significant cave whose single chamber is 115 meters high. Finally, Viale Miramare leads (8 km northwest) to the famous Miramare Castle, built for Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg and his ill-fated wife Charlotte between 1855 and 1860 on a promontory and surrounded by an Italian garden. It is a remarkable and rich environmental museum.

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.

References

Template:Portal Italy

Template:Portal Friuli-Venezia Giulia