home of Maximilian of Habsburg, younger brother of Franz Joseph, and his young wife Charlotte. The castle was built between 1856 and 1860 by the well-known architect Junker. Undoubtedly an enchanted palace, where each museum room is surrounded by an aura of romantic sadness.

opposite the railway station, this monument is a memorial of probably the best loved queen ever.

near the village of Prosecco (Prosek), a burial place for hundreds of soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army, in one of the most stricken areas by the massacre of World War I. Another cemetery is located near Aurisina, in a dolina called Šišček. The buried soldiers belonged to the various ethnic groups making up the Austro-Hungarian army.

despite the Romans being the first to exploit the quarries, the marble industry recorded a greater development at the time of the Habsburg Empire. The golden age of the quarries coincides with the construction of the southern Railway lines. The Aurisina (Nabrežina) marble blocks were used throughout the Empire. The palaces in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, not to speak of Trieste found their origins in the Aurisina (Nabrežina) quarries.

founded as early as 1580 by archduke Charles of Styria, since then the breeding farm has been selecting white horses of pure Lipica breed, the noblest in the world. These horses have a black or brown coat at birth and become snow-white after 4/6 years. Their proud, almost regal, gait is in no way inferior to that of the Habsburg crowned heads who used to ride them. In the centuries of the Habsburg Empire these steeds were destined to the court of Vienna.

a legacy of Empress Maria Theresa who, by an edict issued in the XVIII century, still allows farmers to sell visitors their home-made wine and food. The term osmiza comes from the Slovenian word osem (eight), which was the duration of the licence to sell home-made products. Along the Carso roads among the villages and near some of the houses, follow the numerous "frasche" or "bushes", branches of ivy unmistakably indicating an osmiza.

is hosted at the historical Post Office building and exhibits the documents of the "postal culture" of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region and the adjacent Central European nations. Between 1839 and 1857 the Habsburg Empire, which was experiencing an economic boom, created the Southern Railways, the first railway line capable of connecting Vienna, the heart of the Empire, with Trieste, its port. The museum has been restructured as a historic post office!

the symbol of the renovation wanted by resolute Empress Maria Theresa, who transformed the city into one of the main sea-ports in Europe. Along the canal where the sailing ships moored and which, at the time, stretched as far as the church in neo-classical style of S. Antonio Nuovo (1842 - arch. P. Nobile), there are buildings of rich entrepreneurs and traders, also in neo-classical style. Piazza Ponterosso, nearby, is named after the bridge that once joined the two banks of the canal. At the centre of the square there is a fountain which the inhabitants of Trieste have nicknamed "Giovannin", from the name of the S. Giovanni district. The water springs out in the middle of the piazza thanks to the restoration of the Roman aqueduct restored at Maria Theresa's times.

to taste the spirit of Mitteleuropa during the events taking place throughout the year! At the Slovensko Stalno Gledališče (Slovenian Repertory Theatre) an unforgettable cultural experience with Slovenian performances with Italian subtitles. The Rossetti Theatre offers an elegant atmosphere, while in the summer the Verdi Theatre organises the unique "operetta" festival - this, too, is Mitteleuropa.

a spectacular 5-kilometre climb from the city centre to the Carso plateau, aboard a historical tram-car. A legacy of Habsburg times, it recently celebrated its hundredth anniversary. This is definitely the most typical means of transport of Trieste.

right in the middle of the very central Piazza della Borsa, surrounded by historical buildings dating back to the XIX century approximately, there is a column with the bronze statue of Leopold I, Emperor of Austria.

built at the beginning of the 1840's on the design of a Trieste architect and engineer of Belgian origin, F. Bruyn, the Tergesteo Arcade was a meeting place for traders at a time when trade was booming. Today it hosts shops, cafés and an old bookshop.

in Piazza Unità d'Italia (for the Triestinos Piazza Grande), probably the largest square in the world overlooking the sea, among quaint cafés and imposing buildings, there stands the baroque column with the statue of Emperor Charles VI, the father of innovative Maria Theresa.

the warmth of Trieste cafés is jealously preserved by the Mitteleuropean tradition, which creates a unique atmosphere, typical of cities such as Vienna, Prague, Budapest - and Trieste. In the buffet restaurants, rich in tradition, you will find a world full of different flavours and aromas, mixed and blended together into one food & wine culture typical of Mitteleuropa.

to spend a night like a "king", among gambling tables and tinkling slot machines. One of the favourite pastimes of the Habsburg officers and their ladies, who spent the evenings, wearing elegant silk dresses, at the side of rigorous army generals. The Lipica casino, well-known for its hospitality, offers today's visitors, too, the opportunity of trying their luck.