Trieste, Italy

A Master's Degree in Economics and Coffee Science.

Yes, such a degree exists and it is offered at the university in Trieste, Italy.  Perhaps this shouldn't be so surprising after learning that Trieste is also known as the coffee capital of Italy.  I think that is saying a lot.  It was through this Adriatic port town that, apparently, coffee first entered Europe and today it supplies more than forty percent of Italy's coffee.

So, it was to this city that we sailed for our first stop.  We hadn't booked anything through our cruise and that worked out just fine as the city's tourist office, just off the Piazza Unità d'Italia, was only a short walk away.  Here we could sign up for a two-hour historical tour of the town for less than it would for one of us to do a similar tour through the cruise line.  It always helps when Lily is free!

The Piazza Unità d'Italia in Trieste.  It is the largest square in Europe that opens up to the water.

Our tour was very informative.  The city, Tergeste at the time, was granted the status as a Roman colony in 46 BCE by none other than Julius Caesar.  There are several sights we were shown that date back to the Roman times, including the Roman Theatre and Richard's Arch.

One tale is that this Roman arch, dating back to 33 BCE, is so named because King Richard of England walked under it on his return from the crusades.  Our tour guide suggested that more likely its Italian name "Arco di Riccardo" comes from the latin word "cardo",  the Roman name for the north\south street on which it was located.

The Roman Theatre in Trieste was built in the second half of the 1st century.  In this era, the sea came right up to the theatre's edge so that up to six thousand spectators could watch epic water battle scenes be re-enacted.

How many other people, each with their unique story bringing them to this city, have walked under Richard's Arch over the centuries as Grace and Lily are doing here?

The Roman Theatre in Trieste (photo credit: Grace)

We were also shown around San Giusto Cathedral.   In the eleventh century, two churches stood on this pre-existing Roman building site and were joined to create the cathedral.

San Giusto Cathedral and its beautiful, round window.

 A Roman column left in the corner

A first-century Roman Barbi family tombstone monument that had been cut in two and moved to surround the doorway to the cathedral.  The bottom carving in this photo represented an unpopular Barbi man whose bad reputation had passed down through the generations.  Consequently, at some point in history, it was decided to alter his image to represent a female saint instead.

A mosaic of Christ in between Saint Giusto and Saint Servolo created in the early 13th century by Byzantine artists.

A portion of the floor mosaic that was preserved from the 5th-century church when the two churches were joined.

In the eighteenth century, Trieste's port was given tax-free status as part of the Habsburg Empire.  In fact, it became the most important seaport of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire under Maria Theresa of Austria and much of the design of the "new" city is due to her.  Trieste enjoyed considerable cultural and religious freedom during this era

The Grand Canal of Trieste.  The stone bridges were originally metal and could be lifted to allow the ships of the 18th-century to sail right up into town.  It is surrounded by the palaces of the most prosperous families of the time, who were quite the ethnically-varied group.

Well, we couldn't leave Trieste without a coffee, and a bite to eat thrown in.  Our guide directed us to one of the city's historical cafes, Caffè Urbanis, that dates back to 1832.  While I was waiting at the back of the cafe for the girls to use the washroom, I sat in a large, antique chair surrounded by framed commercial transactions dating back over the course of the café's history.  It was interesting.

Caffè Urbanis, Trieste

Lily took the beautiful photo below showing the lit up Christmas trees in the Piazza Unità d'Italia as we sailed off to our next port, Split, Croatia.