Venzone
One of Italy's most beautiful medieval villages, set within its walls against an alpine backdrop.
Tour details
Guided tour
Trieste and Miramare
A Habsburg port on the Adriatic, and a white castle above the waves
Half or full dayFriuli Venezia Giulia
Trieste is a city of borders and of coffee, of wind and of writers. For centuries the great port of the Habsburg Empire, it opens onto the Adriatic with Piazza Unità d'Italia, often called the largest square in Europe facing the sea.
The story
On a rocky point above the water stands Miramare, the white castle built between 1856 and 1860 for Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria, later Emperor of Mexico. Its rooms still hold his furniture, maps and books, and his study recalls the cabin of a ship. Around it, a park of rare and exotic trees runs down to the sea.
In the city we follow the Canal Grande through the Borgo Teresiano, the district laid out under Empress Maria Theresa, and walk to the end of the Molo Audace to see Trieste from the sea.
This is also a literary city: James Joyce, Italo Svevo and Umberto Saba lived here, and their cafés are still open. Sitting at a marble table with a coffee is part of the tour.
In pictures
What we'll see
- Miramare castle and parkThe romantic residence of Maximilian, furnished as he left it, and its gardens by the sea.
- Piazza Unità d'ItaliaA grand square of palaces opening straight onto the Adriatic.
- The Canal GrandeA canal lined with neoclassical palaces in the Habsburg-era district.
- Historic cafésThe coffee houses of Joyce, Svevo and Saba.
A taste of Trieste and Miramare
Order coffee like a local: a capo in b is a small macchiato served in a glass. Then visit a buffet, Trieste's traditional tavern, for boiled pork with mustard and freshly grated horseradish, or a bowl of jota, the bean and sauerkraut soup.
Ready to discover Trieste and Miramare?
Tell me your dates and group size, and I'll shape the visit around you. It can also be combined with a winery or another town on the same day.
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Tour details
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