Guest Post: Stumbling is Worth it in Trieste

Today's post is the first in a series of guest posts that explore Trieste by the people who live here.  It was inspired by the lockdown period during the first wave of Covid-19 and the idea of the "Staycation" and looking at our city from a different perspective. 

The following post is by Marino Michelazzi.   

I usually stumble. A few years ago, I was walking with my youngest daughter. We were talking, smiling. Suddenly I felt something hit my tibia. A moment later I was lying on the ground, in the middle of the street and a car was coming. My daughter was screaming: “Papà!!!”

 I felt ashamed and so, in spite of the pain, I quickly jumped up and stood on my feet again. “What happened?” she asked. I looked back over my shoulder. There was a simple block of concrete near the sidewalk. It had always been there, but I did not see it because I was looking up at the top of a building, as usual. 

My family says that sooner or later I am going to end up under a car and in the hospital if I am lucky. Maybe. In any case, I cannot get rid of my good/bad habit of looking up at the top of buildings and observing the architecture.

In Trieste I stumble a lot. Trieste is not a city with a lot of astonishing monuments or important public buildings, and it is not famous for mesmerizingly modern architecture. It has several beautiful buildings and a peculiar spirit, but it is not Rome, Venice, or Florence. Nevertheless, in Trieste, you can stumble with every step, because there is a lot to look at up there.  

 

Saba Says

Umberto Saba, our most famous Triestino poet, wrote “Trieste has a surly grace…” (“Trieste ha una scontrosa grazia…”). I recognize that surly grace wandering around Trieste (which is a city of distinct neighborhoods) just outside of downtown. There, you can find unexpected hidden jewels in the architecture.

 

First Stop

For example, let me take you down the boulevard we call Viale XX Settembre. At the third cross-street turn right. This is called via Timeus. It is a narrow street with a continuous flow of cars and two narrow sidewalks. Pedestrians do not walk here, they run towards their destinations. Nobody takes the time to look up, but I invite you to! Stop in front of the building at n.4. Don’t worry about the flow of people, look up and admire the beauty.

The ground floor is painted ochre-yellow and the three floors above are light yellow with fake grey columns. Above the doorway there is a bas-relief showing what I think is two lovers standing on a pile of wood, amid other figures. It looks like they are going to be burned alive. I can’t tell you why. It’s a Mystery.

The first floor has a balcony with an elegant railing. But the real surprise is that at every floor, on the sides of the windows there are two classical-style niches in the wall with statues in them: two young women holding flowers or jars.

Second Stop

Don’t fall behind, now! We’re not done!

Let’s return along Viale XX Settembre. When we reach via Rossetti turn left. After two hundred meters, we encounter the entrance of the park of via Giulia. It is not Central Park but, anyway, it is a peaceful place with high trees, where kids can play, and older people can rest on cozy benches. We must walk to the opposite side. Look up please. It is an ordinary building like all the buildings near it. There are five light yellow floors above the ochre-yellow ground-floor. I am guessing that no building in the neighborhood, or even Trieste, has the same type of balconies: on first floor there is a small balcony in the middle,  on the third floor there are two little balconies near the sides. The Second and fourth floors have long balconies that cover the entire length of the façade. If you observe this strange railing closely, you will notice the elaborate floral motif in Secession style (do you remember Klimt?).

Maybe this is the reason the other buildings seem like walls of stone, while this one seems to speak to the high trees of the park.

Third Stop

 Don’t linger please, we have just one more stop for today. Saba continues:

“(Trieste) If liked, it is like a boy, harsh and greedy, with blue eyes and hands too big to give a flower…. “

(“se piace, è come un ragazzaccio aspro e vorace, con gli occhi azzurri e mani troppo grandi per regalare un fiore”)

We have to work for that flower by walking to the neighborhood of Roiano. Let’s take via Boccaccio, a lonely street with a gentle slope at the beginning. At one point, it opens up to form a large square with one side completely open towards the railway station and, beyond, the sea. In front of us, at one corner of the square, we find what we are looking for. The building has two sides that form a 90-degree angle. The less visible side is the same as the other facades, which is not surprising as they were built in the same era.

The other side, however, gives us something never before seen in Trieste. There are no walls dividing inside and outside. The spaces between the supporting columns, the floor to the ceiling are wood-framed glass windows. All four floors of the façade are made of glass. Remember, it is not a modern building made of steel and glass. It was built over a century ago with cut stone and, perhaps, one of the first attempts with concrete, in Trieste.

If take a look inside the rooms they all seem like artists' studios.

Saving the Rest for Another Day

We are coming to the end of our walk. Now we understand why Saba closed his poem with this:

“…like a lover, with jealousy “ (“…come un amore con gelosia”) Trieste loves its inhabitants with a widespread beauty, but is sometimes reticent to show off the gems. I am sure that if we take another walk tomorrow, however, we will stumble upon other hidden treasures once again.