Exploring Italy's Northeast: Trieste

Our fourth and last full day was dedicated to visiting Trieste, the eastern-most city in Italy. We boarded a local train, and 90 minutes later we emerged in the bustling port city that was once the main port of the Hapsburg empire.

Trieste central station

Trieste has a long and fascinating history, which we had read about in Jan Morris's book, Trieste - a wonderful reflection on the culture and people of this rather different Italian city.

Trieste is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. Throughout its history it has been influenced by its location at the crossroads of Latin, Slavic and Germanic cultures. 

In the 19th century, Trieste was the most important port of the Hapsburg Empire. It was the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (after Vienna, Budapest, and Prague). The architecture certainly triggers thoughts of the grand period before World War I.

The stock exchange

Trieste, we learned, was also an important hub for literature and music. It was home to James Joyce for 12 years, and is where much of Ulysses was written. 

Today, the city is in one of the richest regions of Italy and has been a great center for shipping, shipbuilding, insurance and financial services.

Piazza dell'Unità

We paused for lunch in an outdoor trattoria a short distance from the the breathtakingly beautiful Piazza dell'Unità, and there had a chance to sample a hearty regional soup made with sauerkraut called Jota. Delicious!

We then continued to a nearby canal where we expected to find a statue of James Joyce, near a caffè where he spent much of this time while in Trieste (he spent lots of time in local bars). But we never did find it - it may have been relocated to the city's James Joyce museum.

We continued our meanderings, and learned that at one point in its history Trieste was a major importer of coffee beans from Africa and producer of coffee shipped to points north (i.e., to the coffee houses of Venice). The than (and still) well-known Illy coffee company, was centered here, and run by Signor Illy, mayor of Trieste.



 

Illy coffee is still going strong in Trieste, Italy and throughout the world. We stopped by the Illyteca - a combination museum and shop - for an afternoon visit, but alas, it was closed, and not reopening until after we would need to be returning to the train station for our return to Udine.

In view of the importance of coffee in the history of Trieste, as well as the grand past (and present) of coffee houses where the upper and lower crusts of cultured society would mingle, we had a must-do visit to the famous Caffè degli Specchi in Piazza dell'Unità (the Cafe of Mirrors where Joyce hung out) for Lee to try a coffee. 


 

The Caffè is a jewel box - reminiscent of days long gone by. And so Lee went up to the bar and ordered un caffè, and much to my delight it came with a small glass of intensely-flavored hot chocolate -- all for one euro. And so we were both very happy!

And so fortified, we returned to Udine, satisfied that we had at last been able to explore this fascinating and beautiful and less-touristed northeastern part of Italy.