Venice, poor thing, has become a victim of its own allure. While still ravishing, navigating St Mark’s Square or the Rialto Bridge requires the patience of a saint, and even the ban on large cruise ships has only taken the edge off the crowds. For travellers who want Adriatic splendour without the tourist scrum, there is an elegant alternative just up the coast: Trieste.
Trieste is Italian, but for centuries it was the Habsburg Empire’s gateway to the sea. When the Austro-Hungarians departed they left behind a mood closer to Venice than Vienna, with grand squares, neoclassical façades and old-world cafés where newspapers still matter. Its most dramatic expression is the Castello di Miramare, built for Maximilian, later Emperor of Mexico, and romantically perched high over the sea.
In the kitchen Trieste blends Italian finesse with Central European comfort, with seafood risottos sitting happily beside bean-and-sauerkraut soup, and Viennese-style pastries vying for attention with its crisp, confident Carso wines. Far from drawing the crowds, Trieste offers elegance without exhaustion, beauty without the crush, and the luxury of feeling you are in a city that still belongs to itself.
Pamela McCourt Francescone
Executive Editor
