How to spend a day in Trieste, Italy
From your first cappuccino in a Viennese-style cafe to a nightcap of Friulano wine in a folksy osteria, we map out the perfect day in Italy’s easternmost border city.
Historic Bagno Ausonia, a popular swimming spot close to Il Pedocin.
8am: Breakfast at Caffè Tommaseo
One look at its Viennese-style coffee houses will show you that Trieste used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Caffè Tommaseo is one of the finest — drenched in more stucco than an opera house, with musical instrument-playing cherub carvings serenading you over your cappuccino and croissant.
9am: King of the castle
San Giusto Castle looms over the city, with views from its battlements across the Gulf of Trieste and down the coast to Slovenia and Croatia. Nip into the Lapidarium, a museum housing Roman remains, for geometric mosaics and lifelike funereal sculptures.
11am: Pay your respects
Its border-territory location means Trieste is no stranger to dark times, but the nadir was the 1943-5 Nazi occupation. Around 3,000-5,000 people, largely political prisoners, are thought to have been murdered at the Risiera di San Sabba, a factory-turned-concentration camp. Today a museum accompanies the sobering buildings.
1pm: Alfresco lunch
Taverna Sapori Greci’s fairy-lit bower brightens up its surroundings (the area was knocked down while excavating the adjacent Roman amphitheatre). Sure, it’s a Greek restaurant, but there’s no better place to sun-soak and try Trieste’s outstanding seafood.
Coffee with sachertorte at Caffè Tommaseo, one of Trieste's Viennese-style coffee houses.
2pm: Rooms with a view
Miramare Castle, the city’s most famous site, is five miles away — whisked straight out of a Disney film and plonked on the Gulf of Trieste. Built in 1856 by Maximilian I, Archduke of Austria, its story is tinged with tragedy: following Maximilian’s execution in Mexico, wife Charlotte had a breakdown she never recovered from. The rooms are haunting, while the cottage-style grounds — overlooking a marine reserve — are superb.
4pm: Have a bath
Triestini love their city beaches. You’ll find them rolling out their towels on the shoreline all the way from Miramare back into town. But it’s more fun to head to the old-school La Lanterna or Il Pedocin — the latter a pebbly beach near the marina with ‘male’ and ‘female’ areas separated by a concrete wall.
6pm: Gulf-side sundowner
Piazza Unità d’Italia is one of Europe’s most captivating squares. See the sun set over the water from the outdoor tables at Caffè degli Specchi, a belle époque coffeehouse, with a local Friulano wine, then have dinner at nearby Osteria da Marino, a tavern with 700 types of wine that specialises in Trieste’s Balkans-influenced cuisine.
More info: discover-trieste.it
