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Cities of art

iazza Unità, one of the largest and mostbeautiful squares overlooking theseafront worldwide, is the ideal place

for setting out to discover the variousarchitectural styles featured in the town. High atop the town hall, two statues, Michezeand Jakeze, have struck the hour in Triesteever since the end of the 19th century. During the day, the sun glitters on the gildingadorning Palazzo del Governo, while at nightelectric blue lighting magically lights up thepaving at the point where the sea once lapped the shore.

Trieste is a combination of different culturesand artistic expressions, starting with itsRoman origins, testified by its Roman theatre,the Arco di Riccardo and the Forum on the hill of San Giusto. If, however, you choose to head towards the town centre, as you gothrough the orderly Borgo Teresiano fromPiazza della Borsa, you will find a host ofpalazzos in different styles: real architecturalmasterpieces in Art Nouveau, Neoclassicaland Eclectic-style.

Trieste is, however, a city of fortresses too.The town’s place of origin, Castello San Giusto,offers a spectacular view over the whole gulf.

Another breathtaking view is found at theCastello di Miramare: initially a love-nest for Maximilian of Hapsburg and Charlotte ofBelgium, the castle then became the settingfor its tragic ending. Miramare is, in someway, a symbol of Trieste, in much the sameway as the Faro della Vittoria is. Besideslighting the Port of Trieste, this lighthouse is a commemorative monument to the sailorswho died during the First World War.

Trieste offers a thousand faces and a thousand views worth discovering.

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Triesteand itsthousandfaces

Strolling through Trieste is like leafing through a large architecture book. Past Neoclassical, Art Nouveau and Eclectic style palazzos. Imagining what thestreets were like in the nineteenth century, at the height of the city’s prosperity:teeming with Germans, Hungarians, Levantines, Greeks and Turks, all dressed in their very different garments.

Highlights

A host of cultures and religionsTo get an idea of all the cultural influences which have seeped through the city overthe course of several millennia, you can visit the places of religious worship, and learn about its main churches: the 18th-century Greek-Orthodox San Nicolò church; the neo-Byzantine Serbian-Orthodox San Spiridione church; the catholic San Antoniotaumaturgo church, overlooking both the square bearing the same name and the Canal Grande; the synagogue in via San Francesco, influenced by Syrian design andthe neo-Gothic Evangelical church in Largo Panfili. On the way up to San Giusto youfind the Baroque Santa Maria Maggiore also called “dei gesuiti”; immediately behindthis is the untainted Romanesque San Silvestro, devoted to the Helvetic andWaldesian rites. The Basilica di San Giusto lies at the top of the hill.

“It has a sullengrace”(Umberto Saba)

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here are few cities in the world youcan discover through the creativity ofgreat authors. Trieste is one of these,

as it is impossible to visit the city withoutcoming across a page of living literature.Indeed the great James Joyce lived and,above all, found the right inspiration for hismost important works here. Trieste is also thebirthplace of Italo Svevo and Umberto Saba,considered by many to be the greatest Italianwriters and poets of the 20th century.Starting out from Joyce’s statue on CanalGrande, you can retrace the early 20th-centurysettings which inspired his most importantworks: Piazza Verdi and the theatre, theGiardino Pubblico (a park) and the historiccoffee houses where you can sit at the sametable where he amiably discussed literatureor pondered over his great work, Ulysses.

Pasticceria Pirona, a pastry shop, where he was a regular customer, and the Picciolapharmacy, almost exactly as it was onehundred years ago, also recall the writer’sepoch.If you pick up a novel by Svevo, and strollaround the town, you really can retrace theplaces, the atmospheres, the smells and the flavours found at the turn of the 20th-century. There are dozens of placesdescribed in his works which are still exactlyas the great writer described them. One ofthese is Piazza Hortis.Umberto Saba on the other hand, with hislegendary pipe, came to a halt in via Danteon the corner of via San Nicolò… there is abronze statue of him, standing very near theantique book shop he ran for many years,Libreria Antiquaria Umberto Saba.

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n 18th-century tradition ties the Trieste philosophy and lifestyle to coffee. The various waysof drinking coffee, whose nuances can only be grasped by a real connoisseur (which allTriestine people claim to be!), become a real riddle for any tourist: nero, capo in b, deca,

goccia, lungo, ristretto… these are just a few of the wide range of preparations offered by theskilled Triestine baristas. The important role coffee plays in Triestine life has led to the establishment of many places of consumption, often places generating new ideas concerning art, literature and politics. Even today, visitors are almost compelled to visit many of the historic coffee houses during their

stay in Trieste. Setting out from the oldest coffee house, Caffè Tommaseo (1825), whichhas kept its Hapsburg-style decorations and furnishings, you can then head towards

Caffè degli Specchi, a genuine refurbished bourgeois parlour on Piazza Unità. Three other renovated coffee houses, which have marked the lives of the Triestinepeople over the centuries, are located in the same area: ex-Urbanis, Tergesteo andStella Polare. On Corso Italia nearby, sits a wonderful coffee house called Torinese(1919) furnished in shiplike wainscoting. The old espresso machines echo noisilyacross the Viennese atmosphere of the historic Caffè San Marco, already a centre

for political debate in Trieste at the end of the Belle Époque.

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It comes as no surprise that great writers found places and settings to inspire them in Trieste. Today, as you strollthrough the city, you can still immerse yourself in theatmospheres described or experienced by Joyce, Svevo and Saba. See it with your own eyes…

Artistic, literary and political unrest animated the historic coffeehouses in Trieste. A culture expressed in the varied ways of drinking coffee: nero, capo in b, deca, goccia, lungo andristretto. You need to try each and every one of them, to becomea real connoisseur. Which all Triestine people claim to be.

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Trieste

Coffee andits age-oldflavours

he sea is an essential part of the Trieste panorama. Once a merchant port for Vienna in theHapsburg period, the town has kept up its important commercial and tourist activity, withenormous transatlantic cruise liners often sailing across the gulf. The sea lies right behind

the centre and you can go for very enjoyable strolls along the rive, its seafront, and walk to theend of the long piers, like Molo Audace, which stretch right out into the blue water. The coastproceeds as far as Barcola, then all along the coast road, with its beaches and bathing resorts, as far as Sistiana and Duino, whose small bays are protected by cliffs dropping into the sea andimbued with the fragrance of the Mediterranean brushwood. Sailing holds a place of honour: almost any water sport can be practised in the gulf, but Triestehas a very important sailing tradition. Countless international yachtsmen have trained in the Borawind and on the waves of the Adriatic Sea. The Barcolana, a highly popular international regatta,is held here each year in October.

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... the sea barely ripples...Trieste wouldn’t be Trieste without the sea. The seawhich laps right up to the historic centre, a mirror for elegant palazzos. The sea overlooked by the city’stypical bathing resorts or framed by tiny bays protectedby white cliffs. The sea which is suitable for variouswater sports, sailing in particular: seeing it dotted withmyriad sails at the Barcolana is a spectacular sight.

from “Marinaresca” a traditional Triestine song

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Trieste

Highlights

Jews in TriesteTrieste boasts an age-old Jewish tradition:there are traces of the establishment of a large community dating back to the 13th century. The monumental synagogue is deemed the most successful construction of its kind in Europe and the sheer magnitudeof its interior is a reminder of the importancethe Jewish community has had in Trieste. Two other significant testimonies to theJewish culture are the Museo Carlo e VeraWagner and the Jewish Library.

he Trieste culinary tradition hasinfluences that can be found in noother part of Italy, coming as they

do from German, Slav, Hungarian and evenGreek cuisine. The rebechin is one of themost typical customs, consisting of atraditional snack consumed at any time of the day, usually at the counter in one ofthe buffet bars dotted all across the town.Slovenian tradition also originated what hasbecome a real tourist attraction, theosmizas: private houses in Carso are openedup for short periods of time, where you cantaste local specialities (wine, salamis andcheeses) in a charming rural setting. The inland offers a host of top qualityproducts: besides its wine, particularly itswhite wine, cooking connoisseurs andexperts also greatly appreciate the olive oil produced in Trieste Carso.One of the symbols of the Julian cuisine is Jota, a very tasty thick soup made withbeans, potatoes and sauerkraut. Originally a “poorman’s” dish, today it is also servedin the finest restaurants. As for its desserts,Trieste has retained the best of theMitteleuropean traditions. Its pastry shopsare lined with cakes of Austrian, Hungarianand Slav origin, including krapfen and

strudel, sacher cakes, dobos and rigojanci,as well as presnitz and putizza.A break dedicated to the palate becomes a real journey through flavours, aromas and colours belonging to different cultures,which find a unique and inimitablesynthesis in this city.

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Highlights

A Tasty SeaSeafood is an essential ingredient in theTriestine cuisine. The town is dotted withcountless restaurants, to suit all pockets,serving fish and shellfish in all shapesand sizes. Sardoni are the most popularfish and they are normally served fried, in breadcrumbs, or in savor (fried and marinated in vinegar and onion). But there is also bass, sea bream, tunafish, mussels, clams, cuttlefish and all the seafood the fish market offers.

Austrian,Hungarian and Slavinfluencescombine in a unique and inimitablesynthesis in Trieste.Unusualosmizasand ancientpastry shopsoffer manyspecialities to delight your palate.

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Museums for alltastes and interests

From the ancient arts to war, furnishings, the theatre andthe sea: a thousand worlds to discover through interestingexhibitions. Then you can wander through charming lanesto find valuable antiques and small art galleries.

he choice of museums is as rich and varied as the city’s history: a wonderful opportunity to immerse

yourself in history and culture andstimulate your curiosity and interest.There are museums of the ancient arts,war, furnishings, the theatre, the sea andeven international exhibitions held in thebeautiful splendidly renovated formerPescheria centrale (fish market). Many small art galleries, antique shops and libraries grace the charming quartersand lanes.Trieste offers endless cultural stimuli forentering unfamiliar worlds or for finding out more about your own interests.

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Trieste

A journeythroughflavours

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The heart of Friuli and a gateway to a special world, where an ancient languageis spoken. Elegant palazzos and charming streets, with “the most beautifulVenetian square on the mainland”, are watched over by an ancient castle. The hill it was erected on is said to have been built by Attila so he could watchAquileia going up in flames.

dine, a small gem in the heart of Friuli Venezia Giulia, offers you agenuine experience: it is the gateway

to a culture expressed through unusual,ancient traditions. Admiring the façades of the historic palazzos, enveloped in aspecial atmosphere and surrounded bypeople chitchatting in Friulian, the localdialect, is a sensation you can only find here. From Piazza Libertà, recognized as “the mostbeautiful Venetian square on the mainland”,richly adorned by the Loggia del Lionello andthe Loggia di San Giovanni, you walk underthe stunning Arco Bollani to reach the castlecomplex, today housing the Civici Musei, thetown museums. Legend has it that the castlewas erected on a hill built by the Huns to enable their warlord Attila to watch thespectacle of Aquileia going up in flames.Do go for a stroll along Via Mercatovecchio,where the market was held in ancient times.In between fashion shops and ancienttrattorias, you can admire beautiful noble

palazzos, such as Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, with its richly decorated Baroquechapel, lined with valuable gilded leatherpainted panels.Arriving in Piazza Matteotti or “Piazza delleErbe” is a magic moment at any time of the day: the charming palazzos embracingthis “town salon” overlook the market in the morning and bars teeming with people at night.

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Udine, genuine charm

isitors to the town should make a pointof visiting one of the many osteriaslocated throughout the historic centre.

Enjoy the experience of entering a typicalosteria and ordering “un tajut di blanc o dineri”, a glass of white or red wine,accompanied by a crostino with flavours fromFriuli Venezia Giulia, and you may even hearthe typical greeting “Mandi”!

This will give you an idea of the unusualcharacter of the Friulians. The modern,bustling town is still dotted with countlessosterias “like they were in olden times”; theyoften feature a fireplace where chestnuts areroasted in winter, or friends get together for agame of cards. The atmosphere is warm andcosy, there is a friendly rapport with the owner

and you feel as if you are in your own home.

A good time to go to an osteria, to get toknow the local habits and experience

Friulian hospitality, is just beforemealtimes, when the locals meet upfor an aperitif.

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“A glass of the good stuff”The rituals revolving round the osterias in Udineexpress warmth and hospitality. Discovering them is like being suspended in time, a festive time.

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Udine

Highlights

Stay healthy for a long time. It’s a Friulian telling you to.“Mandi” is one of the words you’ll mostoften hear echo through the streets. This is the typical Friulian greeting. The etymological interpretation of theLatin-derived word lies somewherebetween “mane diu” (long health to you) e “mane cum Deo” (may God be withyou). Friulian is a neo-Latin idiom,associated with the other Romancelanguages of the Latin matrix. It has beenfurther enriched by late-Roman, Lombardand Germanic contaminations. BesidesUdine and its province, it is also spoken in some parts of Pordenone and Gorizia.Today Friulian is also used in artisticexpressions: in the theatre, in poetry and in literature, and to add colour to song lyrics.

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Tiepolo’s beautiful worksThe great eighteenth century artist reached artistic maturity in Udine. With a spectacular cycle of frescoes in Palazzo Arcivescovile and beautifulpaintings housed in the Oratorio della Purità.

Udine

Highlights

Artistic geniusThe Galleria d’Arte Moderna, a section of the Civici Musei andGallerie di Storia e Arte, displays over three thousand works,including paintings, graphic arts and sculptures, and thousands of architectural drawings, in particular by Friuli-born Raimondod’Aronco, considered one of the leading Italian Art Nouveauarchitects, who even designed mosques and palazzos in Istanbul. A special section houses creations by Dino, Mirko and AfroBasaldella: the latter’s genius makes him one of the top Italian artistsof the twentieth century. One of the main private Italian collections of contemporary art was bequeathed to the gallery in 1983 by MariaLuisa Astaldi. This legacy has added great value to the exhibition andincludes works by De Chirico, Morandi, Sironi, Chagall and Picasso.

dine is also known as the “City of Tiepolo”, as the greateighteenth century artist spent an

important period of his life here, as one of Patriarch Delfino’s guests. In FriuliVenezia Giulia, Tiepolo evolved towards a more captivating naturalism and abrighter palette, reaching what is definedas the period of his pictorial maturity.

His creativity came alive in PalazzoArcivescovile, embellished by a spectacularcycle of frescoes, and in the Duomo, wherethe famous artist frescoed the Cappella delSantissimo Sacramento. The Oratorio dellaPurità houses one of Tiepolo’s greatestmasterpieces and is well worth visiting.

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orso Vittorio Emanuele, or moresimply, Corso, is the town’s eleganthigh street, and undoubtedly the

heart of Pordenone life. It is a delight to wander under one of the continuousporticoes, the longest in Europe and bedistracted by the shop windows displayingspecial products in the ancient palazzos, or to enter the charming alleyways flankingthe Corso, in search of one of the excellenttrattorias and characteristic restaurantsserving local specialities.

Sitting down at a table in one of thecountless bars to savour special selectionsof coffee, chocolate or fine wine, you cangaze at the splendidly frescoed façades

on the palazzos overlooking the Corso, from the more colourful and picturesque 14th-century edifices to the more elegant,stately Venetian palazzos. As you sip an aperitif or go for a stroll around thetown, just lift your eyes and you will feelimmersed in an age-old atmosphere.

Teatro Verdi also appeals to visitors. The theatre has been recently renovated andits modern, innovative design blends in verywell with the dynamic life in Pordenone.

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Pordenone,a stroll alongthe Corso...

An elegant porticoed street is the pivot of town life, with beautifully dressed shop windows, and charmingcoffee houses: its side lanes are dotted with characteristic restaurants. Glance upwards and you will see splendidly frescoed palazzos.

A stone’s throw away from the town

… and past thenoble palazzos

n Pordenone, a large number of historic edifices have been assigned to culture and art,exhibitions and shows, such as the former Convento e Chiesa di San Francesco, adorned with15th-century frescoes and a painted cloister, and Palazzo Pera and Palazzo Sbrojavacca, today

the headquarters of the Provincial administration.19th-century Corso Garibaldi is also fascinating; it was once home to many wealthy families whobuilt their marvellous stately palazzos there, including Palazzo de’ Spelladi, where Emperor FranzJoseph stayed.There are interesting museums to visit too, including the Museo delle Scienze located in the16th-century Palazzo Amalteo and the Museo Civico d’Arte, housed in Palazzo Ricchieri, withits host of paintings by il Pordenone, the leading Friulian Renaissance painter.

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Ancient edifices, once the dwellings of wealthyfamilies, are now earmarked for culture and art.

fter a leisurely stroll around the towncentre, go for an enjoyable walk alongthe pedestrian path flanking the

banks of the Noncello river, with its wealth ofvegetation and protected fauna, and discoveranother side to Pordenone; it is a city that

knows how to express itself in the languageof nature, leaving the bustling town lifeaside for a moment. The town parks areimmersed in a peaceful atmosphere, whichyou can enjoy at a stone’s throw from thehistoric centre.

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Peacefulniches wherenature reigns.Pordenone’sparks are nearthe historiccentre.

Highlights

An appointment downtownEach year, in September, the city becomes a bustle of culture and life duringpordenonelegge.it; the book festival parexcellence which turns Pordenone into a minicapital of culture in Friuli Venezia Giulia.

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Pordenone

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Gorizia, anappealingencounter

orizia is a melting pot of differentcultures and today it is a “gardentown” welcoming its visitors to its

tree-lined avenues and stately villas. The layout of its streets and edifices, itschurches adorned with their characteristiconion-shaped domes, and the atmosphere in its coffee houses are all a constantreminder of its Mitteleuropean matrix.Wandering along its main avenues, CorsoVerdi and Corso Italia, admiring the historicvillas in their spacious gardens, you can feelthe late 19th-century atmosphere which gaveGorizia its name as the “Nice of Austria”,residence to Hapsburg functionaries whochose to live there for its pleasant climate.

Many of the historic palazzos offeredhospitality to illustrious people. You can trace the steps of the legendary Casanova, or breathe in the creative skills of Goethe and Goldoni in Palazzo Lantieri. The Gorizia palazzos also offered hospitalityto the powerful and mighty, among whomwere Pope Pio VI, Napoleon and Charles V.

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A “garden town”, abounding with tree-lined avenues, elegantlyexpresses all its Mitteleuropean essence. Its mild climate ledto it being chosen as a residence for Hapsburg functionaries,hence its name, the “Nice of Austria”.

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A leap into history

In the majestic castle, a symbol of the town, follow thechemin-de-ronde around the walls and gaze at the landdotted with vineyards. Then, visit the museums of History and Art, of the First World War and the unusual museum on fashion and applied arts. Not to mention the importantrole played by the city in the recent past...

he castle is a symbol of the town and its original historic centre with its charming hamlet. It offers a

stunning view of its splendid surroundings,with a marvellous panorama of vineyards, as well as of the territories still scarred by the trenches from the two world wars: real historic wounds you can visit at thebattle sites. You can go for a wonderful walkaround the castle’s exterior walls as far asthe Torre dell’Orologio, the bell-tower, where the armigers did their rounds. This is a real leap into history, enhanced byvisits to the museums, including the Museodel Medioevo Goriziano and the MuseiProvinciali di Borgo Castello adjacent toCasa Tasso and Casa Dornberg, which houseimportant permanent collections, such as the Museo della Grande Guerra

the interesting museum on world war I, theCollezione Archeologica, the Museo di Storiae Arte and the Museo della Moda e delle Arti Applicate, the only museum on fashionand the applied arts of its kind.

For half a century, Gorizia was the symbol of the cold war, crossed by the “iron curtain”.Piazza Transalpina was physically divided by a wall until 2004 and today you can still walkacross it with one foot in Italy and the otherfoot in Slovenia: undoubtedly a uniqueexperience, which only Gorizia can offer.The city has also been an important town in Italy’s more recent history, experiencingmoments of sadness but also of great joy,images of which can be seen as you walk in its streets and squares, listening to thelocals’ stories.

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Gorizia

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