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These houses of worship stand as testimony to Maria Theresa's commitment to religious freedom. She knew that freedom of worship was essential for a society whose economic base was international trade.

Besides introducing religious freedom, Maria Theresa also directed the city's architectural renaissance. The area now called the Theresian Quarter is an elegant example of 18th century city planning. The streets sit at right angles, rectangular squares open up the space and canals -- the Grand Canal is an excellent example of the form -- cut into the heart of the quarter (making it easier for merchant ships to unload their goods directly into the import houses). By the end of the 1800s, the city was so wealthy and so deeply involved in international trade that it was largely Trieste's labor force and money that built the Suez Canal.

A few blocks south of the Theresian Quarter is the Piazza Unita D'Italia. Once part of an ancient Roman harbor, over the centuries it silted up and eventually became one of the largest and most impressive plazas in Europe. At the top of the square the City Hall looks out to the sea. On the north side is one of the city's oldest cafes; on the south side is Trieste's most historic hotel, the Grand Hotel Duchi D'Aosta, which was designed to give guests the feeling of staying in the home of a well-to-do family.

The original hotel on this site was built in the 1300s to offer a hospitable resting place for merchants arriving on trading vessels, and there's been a hotel here ever since. In 1805 the cafe on the ground floor became the first gastronomic establishment in Trieste to stay open 24 hours a day. Today the area is known as Harry's Grill, its bar having been designed by the same architect who put up Harry's Bar in Venice. The Winter Garden that faces out on the plaza is heated in the winter months, but opens up to the piazza during the spring and summer.

The Hotel Duchi is presently owned and run by the Benvenuti family. Its insistence on modern technology beneath the classical surface is very much the influence of the Austrian tradition: high touch and high-tech.

The food in Trieste, like everything else in the city, is a blend of Italian and Austro-Hungarian influences. The most traditional type of eatery is called a "buffet." Buffet Da Pepi is a good example. At first it looks like all the neighborhood restaurants of Italy, but here they offer ham baked in a bread crust, hot sausages and sauerkraut -- clearly the influence of Austria.

The next step up is called a birrerìa, which translates as "a place to drink beer," though most of them also serve the traditional foods of Trieste. I thoroughly enjoyed the Birrerìa Forst, which served good goulash with bread dumplings, sauerkraut, frankfurters, Sacher torte and apple strudel. Not quite the menu you would expect in a restaurant serving the traditional foods of an Italian city.

For views to dine by, the restaurant at the Hotel Riviera, Maximilian's, is a good spot. About a 10-minute drive out of town, it hangs over the only private beach on the coast and offers not only great views but also some excellent Triestini food.

I started with ham that had been baked in a crust of bread, a mild local cheese and frico, a pancake made from cheese, onions and potatoes. The next course was jute, a soup that marries the gastronomic traditions of Austria and Italy. The base is made with beans in the style of Tuscany, but the second major ingredient is sauerkraut. Other second courses were pasta with scampi and rice with shrimp, reflecting Trieste's role as a major seaport. The meat course was a dish called stinko, an unfortunate name for an excellent dish of roasted shinbone of pork with pan-roasted potatoes. Cheesecake and espresso made up dessert.

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