In Trieste there are plenty of opportunities to appreciate the wide variety of typical «flavours» of the local tradition. An Adriatic city, rich in Mittel-European memories and Balkanic colours, a spicy mixture of Friulian, Slovenian, Istrian and Dalmatian, Jewish, Hungarian and Greek ingredients. A legacy from its trading past and an expression of the new geo-political effervescence, as well as the effects of the European enlargement.
This offer includes all the local flavours and colours to be found in town, by anyone arriving by train or who simply is not keen on using a car, while strolling around Borgo Teresiano or maybe catching a bus to reach some more remote destinations.
«What's typical in Trieste» is an itinerary dedicated to the local delicacies, as well as specialities coming from neighboring regions and faraway lands. It begins from some very emblematic places, i.e. the statues by Nino Spagnoli positioned around the city, as if they were conversing with visitors in love with the «roughish grace» of Trieste.
TRIESTE
I walked across the entire city.
Then I climbed up a slope,
crowded at the beginning, then deserted,
closed in by a small wall: a little corner
in which all alone I sit;
and I think that where it ends the city ends too.
Trieste has a roughish
grace. If you like it,
it resembles a clumsy and voracious young boy,
with blue eyes and hands too big
to give a flower in gift;
like a love
full of Jealousy.
From this height every church, all its streets
I discover, those that go to the crowded beach,
or to the hill to which, on its stony
peak, a house, the last one, clings.
All around
surrounding everything
is a strange air, a tormenting air,
the native air.
My city which is alive in every part, has
prepared a corner for me, for my 1ife
pensive and shy.
Umberto Saba
UMBERTO SABA, Nino Spagnoli 2004
Fondazione CRTrieste, AIAT Trieste
Comune di Trieste – Assessorato alla Cultura
From Corso Italia towards via Dante Alighieri: Umberto Saba with his lanky air shows us his temple, the Umberto Saba antique bookshop at via San Nicolò 30, with its old volumes and shelves. Mario Cerne, the son of faithful Carletto who for half a century collaborated with the poet-bookseller, peeps out from behind a neoclassical column. Cerne gets enthusiastic about the customers’ most bizarre requests, he can entertain them with stories from these lands, from Florence to Prague, by quipping with his proverbial irony, he will astonish you.
In the parallel street, via Mazzini nr. 42, there is another “historic establishment”, the Podrecca kitchenware shop: with its wide range of ceramic plates with regional decorations (Veneto, Umbria, Friuli), as well as china and copper plates, since 1870.
Near the neoclassical church of S. Antonio Nuovo, at via XXX Ottobre 3, there is the art-deco La Bomboniera confectionery shop offering products in the Austro-Hungarian tradition: bonbon, fondant, 19th century “confetti” (sugar-coated almonds), but also putizze, presnitz, pinze and Jewish pastries, fave dei morti, Rigojancj. Since 1850.
Not far away, at via Torre bianca 29/b, La Bottega del mondo: ethnic products, food, handicrafts, books, clothes etc. from the South of the world, marketed through the fair trade circuit.
«La nostra bella Trieste! I have often said that angrily but tonight I feel it true. I long to see the lights twinkling along the Riva as the train passes Miramar. After all, Nora, it is the city which has sheltered us».
James Joyce, from a letter to Nora, September 1909
www.univ.trieste.it/~nirdange/netjoyce/
JAMES JOYCE, Nino Spagnoli 2004
Fondazione CRTrieste, AIAT Trieste
Comune di Trieste – Assessorato alla Cultura
“Well, - I suggested – let us walk like this, holding hands, across the entire city. In this unusual stance, to be better noticed, let us cross the Corsia Stadion (today’s Via Battisti), and then the porches of Chiozza, and down down the Corso as far as Sant’Andrea to return to our room by a different route, so that the whole city can see us.”
Italo Svevo, La Coscienza di Zeno
www.turismo.fvg.it
ITALO SVEVO, Nino Spagnoli 2004
Fondazione CRTrieste, AIAT Trieste
Comune di Trieste – Assessorato alla Cultura
You will meet Ettore Schmitz, also known as Italo Svevo, in front of the Biblioteca Civica – the municipal library of Trieste – in shadowy Piazza Hortis. At the extreme end of the Square bordering on the Cavana district, at nr. 6 there is Ai Fiori restaurant, since 2005 managed by Vlada and Stane Puzzer, two authoritative names of the new world of catering in Trieste (Rondinelle, Harry’s Grill). The refined cuisine based on fish “Trieste style” well combines with its elegant and welcoming environment, in the Mittel-European tradition, at a two minutes’ walk from the sea.
If you walk across Piazza Cavana and turn into via Cavazzeni, at nr. 7 you will find the James Joyce Hotel located in a 1770 building, completely renovated in 2003. A two-star hotel, with a young and friendly atmosphere, also for differently-able guests.
Behind Piazza Unità d’Italia, opposite the Town Hall offices, at via Malcanton 8, Time Out restaurant serves typical Greek dishes, such as moussakà, souvlaki, gyros pita, tzatziki, typical desserts and Greek wines. Outdoor tables available in the summer, as well as live music.
Besides the seat of the Chamber of Commerce, in piazza della Borsa, there are two places of “sweet“ perdition. At largo Einaudi 1, I Paesi del Caffé gourmet cafeteria where top-quality single origin coffees can be tasted. In a warm and friendly setting, in addition to coffee blends coming from Latin America, Africa and Asia, selected teas and chocolate are also served.
At via Cassa di Risparmio 9 there is the city branch of the well known Saint Honoré confectionery shop of Opicina, Oro Colato, with its wide variety of original homemade chocolate specialities, typical Trieste pastries, Torta carsolina, the “Trieste” cakes, “El can de Trieste”.
”How beautiful Trieste is, if you observe it with a rested and limpid eye, in the soul imperturbable quietness and an unharmed spirit”.
Srečko Kosovel, from Album, Trieste, August 1925
SREČKO KOSOVEL
Comune di Trieste
In the municipal gardens, among the statues dedicated to illustrious names of the history and culture of Trieste, there is the “expressionist” bust of Srečko Kosovel, a profound representative of Slovenian and Carso poetry. From here you can reach Libreria Triestina – Tržaška knjigarna at via San Francesco 20, where, in addition to the bookshop, other institutions of the Slovenian community can be found (library, cultural and political organisations). Not only books in Slovenian and Italian, but also Slovenian handicrafts, paintings, maritime and mountain maps.
After climbing up via Rossetti, at 13/b there is the Qui gatta ci cova artistic pottery laboratory, where Paolo Vecchiet manufactures his decorative objects, kitchen articles, remakes on request, of Italian Tuscany majolica, according to the patterns of the classical, local and Slovenian tradition.
Pasticceria caffè Pirona at Largo Barriera Vecchia 12 is a must for any lover of the local cakes and pastries. In addition to good old Joyce, many others have stopped here to taste its mandorlato and marzipan, Sachertorte, doughnuts, not to mention other cakes such as presnitz, putizze, pinze … The owners, Cristina and Sergio De Marchi have kept the original furniture of the “Italian historic establishment” thereby preserving a piece of the history of Trieste. Since 1900.
In piazza San Giovanni 6 there is the old Vittorio Toso drogheria, a rare example of a shop of Austrian times where soaps of all types (real Marseille soap) can be bought, as well as marine sponges, spices and medical herbs, sweets, brooms and hundreds of other household products, all displayed on the original shelves. Since 1906.
Next to it is Malabar, a bar open 7 days out of 7, where the wine culture is promoted and tasted (over 700 events with wine-producers in 20 years of activity), with a rich selection of regional, Slovenian, national and foreign wines, ranging from Carso to Chile. Exuberant Walter Cusmich and his partner Mario Mosetti, through wine-tasting, will introduce you into the history of these lands where Mitteleuropa brings together many different cultures.
From Largo Barriera Vecchia you can take bus 34. At the end of the line you will find Trattoria Scabar managed by lovely Ami, her brother Giorgio and their parents: the fish dishes are great, but so is the meat, thanks to their creativity, attention to the choice of ingredients and matching with regional, Slovenian wines, etc. This restaurant is renowned and is often chosen by Italian and foreign journalists for their food & wine reviews.
La MULA De TRIESTE, Ugo Carà 1986
(Barcola - Panathlon Club Trieste)
At Barcola there is the “mula” of Trieste, the girl that sculptor Ugo Carà dedicated to the special beauty of the Trieste girls. Not far from it are the marina, the “Topolini” (the typical sun-bathing platforms), the promenade towards Miramare and the ISAS scientific citadel
It can be reached by bus nr. 6 from Piazza Oberdan or from the Central Station. Between Barcola and Miramare is the traditional fish restaurant called La Marinella which has welcomed multitudes of visitors and served its delicacies even to the Pope. Nada (wife of late Boris) and her son Andrea Zerjal will make you feel at home in their restaurant flooded with light, famous for the carts of hors d’oeuvres, and where besides Italian, Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian are also spoken. Since 1954.
The other terminus of line 6 (but also the point of arrival of line 9, starting from the Lloyd Palace near the New Port) is at the other end of the city, in the San Giovanni district, just under the new University, in piazza Gioberti. From there you can reach via Comici where, at nr. 2, there is Antica trattoria Suban, one of the symbols of Trieste cuisine. Mario’s daughter Federica collaborates with her father in preparing the typical Carso and Austro-Hungarian specialities: jota (bean and sauerkraut soup), baked veal shank, goulash, patate in tecia (rustic mashed potatoes), palačinka with basil…
From piazza Gioberti you can easily reach via delle Docce 16/e where La Dolce vita restaurant is serving Balkanic dishes, grilled meat and other Serbian delicacies.
If you want to enjoy some quietness in the middle of the green, just a few minutes off Viale XX settembre (upper part), you can do so at the apartments of Villa Bottacin residence at vicolo dei Roveri 16. The building was constructed in 1854 by Nicolò Bottacin, botanical consultant of Archduke Maximilian.
