Trieste, Italy 2025

Trieste, pop. 200,000, is in the far northeast section of Italy next door to Slovenia and Croatia.

 

It looks and feels more Austrian than Italian. That can be explained since it was part of the Hapsburg Empire from 1382 to 1918. It was their most important seaport then.

The cruise ships, marina, and city center are all in the same general area and safe as well as clean.

It was then given to Italy as a favor for joining with the Allies.

Trieste is yet another example of a city with big squares and narrow streets.

They think the Roman Gate was built by Augustus in 33 BC.

Umberto Saba was a famous local poet.

Right here in the main square there is a plaque that says, “On September 18, 1938, Mussolini chose this square to announce the enactment of the anti-Jewish racial laws.”

The Jews were forced to live in the ghetto for two centuries starting in 1697.

The Great Synagogue of Trieste is an Orthodox Jewish congregation that was completed in 1912.

It closed in 1942 by Fascists and then was used as a storehouse for works of art and books seized from the Jewish houses. The ritual silvers of the community were preserved thanks to a clever hiding place inside the very building. Right after the war the synagogue reopened.

 Allyn loved her considerable time spent with its rabbi.