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Recently in Salon Travel

Travel Food Feature
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Goose livers the size of breadbaskets: A step-by-step look at expert foie gras preparation.
By Marjorie Leet Ford
[04/13/00]

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By Donald D. Groff
[04/13/00]

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By Megan McNamer
[04/12/00]

Vagabonding
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By Rolf Potts
[04/11/00]

Out of the Blue
Cockpit assault
Since July 1997, over a dozen passengers have attempted to breach cockpit doors during commercial airline flights. We've been lucky so far.
By Elliott Neal Hester
[04/08/00]

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The city is a monument to the freedom of religion and a center for music from Puccini to pop. It has a 2,000-year-old history of great, varied theater. It's home to one of the most romantic castles in Italy and the largest domed grotto in the world. The city's Italian heritage makes it romantic, but its Austrian heritage makes you show up on time for your kiss.

For the past several millenniums the sea has controlled Trieste's destiny. Trieste's position as the most northern port on the Adriatic Sea made it one of the most important trading centers in Europe. Sugar and spice came up from the Mediterranean and went on to central Europe; the goods from central Europe came down and went out to the ports of the Mediterranean and Africa.

Wines from Trieste

The first people to settle here arrived about 4,000 years ago and built a walled town on the top of what is now called San Giusto Hill. About 50 years before the birth of Christ, the Romans took over the spot and built a temple. When Christianity replaced the paganism of the Romans, the Cathedral of San Giusto was built on top of the Roman temple. Some parts were actually built out of the temple: The doorjambs of the main entrance are cleverly recycled Roman sculptures, and throughout the structure you can see Roman columns and supports that the cathedral builders reused.

The present cathedral was constructed during the 1300s, when two churches that stood next to each other were combined. The facing side walls came down, and the buildings were connected by a new central aisle covered by a ceiling that looks like the keel of a ship -- and was probably made by carpenters who normally worked as shipbuilders. There are two beautiful Byzantine-style mosaics from the 12th century that are not easy to see, until you place a coin in a box that turns on the spotlights. Interesting symbolism: Contribute to the church and become enlightened.

For 300 years, starting in the 13th century, Trieste was in constant competition with Venice. Trieste had the better port, but Venice had the better army. For protection from the Venetians, Trieste placed itself under the auspices of the kings of Austria. In 1719, one of those kings, Charles VI, declared Trieste a free port and Trieste began to take off as an international commercial center. When Charles' daughter, Maria Theresa, took the throne, she not only kept Trieste a free port but, to attract merchants from all over the world, guaranteed them social equality and religious freedom.

As soon as there were 100 families sharing the same religion, they were allowed to build their own house of worship. Today Trieste is filled with magnificent buildings representing dozens of faiths.

The Church of San Spiridione was built in the Byzantine style by the Serbian community. As with all Christian Orthodox churches, the interior is dominated by icons. The structure known as the iconostasis divides the space available to human beings from the space devoted to the divine. Majestic doors allow priests to move between the two worlds, and silver- and gold-covered icons depict life on the other side.

The Church of Saint Antonio Nuovo, the largest Roman Catholic church in Trieste, was built in the neoclassic style, which looks back to the temple architecture of ancient Greece.

The Evangelical church was built for the Lutheran community in the Gothic style, complete with sharp spires and arched windows designed to remind worshipers of their northern European history.

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