Trieste (Trst in Slovenian and Croatian, Triest in German) is a city in North-East Italy. Once a very influential and powerful center of politics, literature, music, art, and culture under Austrian-Hungarian dominion, its importance fell into decline towards the end of the 20th century, and today, Trieste is often forgotten as tourists head off to the big Italian cities like
Rome and Milan. It is, however, a very charming underestimated city, with a quiet and lovely almost Eastern European atmosphere, several pubs and cafes, some stunning architecture and a beautiful sea view. It was also, for a while, the residence of famous Irish writer James Joyce.
Trieste is the capital of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is situated on the crossroads of several commercial and cultural flows: German middle Europe to the north, Slavic masses and the Balkans to the east, Italy and then Latin countries to the west and the
Mediterranean Sea to the south.
Its artistic and cultural heritage is linked to its singular "border town" location. You can find some old Roman architecture (a small theater near the sea, a nice arch into the old city and an interesting Roman museum), Austrian empire architecture across the city center (similar to stuff you can find in Vienna) and a nice atmosphere of metissage of Mediterranean styles, as Trieste was a very important port during the 18th century.
Trieste has always been a very cosmopolitan city. This can be seen in the cultural diversity and even in religion: there is a Greek Orthodox church, a Serbian Orthodox church, a Lutheran church, and a synagogue.
There is a tourist office at the edge of
, in the Lloyd Triestino building. Information is available in Italian, German, and English, as are tourist maps and brochures of information about attractions in and around the city.
Climate
The territory of Trieste is composed of several different climate zones depending on the distance from the sea and elevation. The average temperatures are 5.4 °C (42 °F) in January and 23.3 °C (74 °F) in July. The climatic setting of the city is humid subtropical climate (Cfa according to Köppen climate classification). On average, humidity levels are pleasantly low (~65%), while only two months (January & February) receive slightly less than 60 mm (2 in) of precipitation.
Trieste along with the Istrian peninsula has evenly distributed rainfall above 1,000 mm (39 in) in total; it is noteworthy that no true summer drought occurs. Snow occurs on average 0 – 2 days per year. Temperatures are very mild - lows below zero are somewhat rare and highs above 30 °C (86 °F) aren't as common as in other parts of Italy. Winter maxima are lower than in typical Mediterranean zone (~ 5 - 11 °C) with quite high minima (~2 - 8 °C). Two basic weather patterns interchange - sunny, sometimes windy but often very cold days frequently connected to an occurrence of northeast wind called Bora as well as rainy days with temperatures about 6 to 11 °C (43 to 52 °F). Summer is very warm with maxima about 28 °C (82 °F) and lows above 20 °C (68 °F), with the hot nights being influenced by the warm sea water. The absolute maximum of the last fifty years is 37.2 °C (99 °F) in 2003, whereas the absolute minimum is − 14.6 °C (6 °F) in 1956.
The Trieste area is divided into 8a-10a zones according to USDA hardiness zoning; Villa Opicina (320 to 420 MSL) with 8a in the upper suburban area down to 10a in especially shielded and windproof valleys close to the Adriatic sea.
The climate can be severely affected by the Bora, a very dry and usually cool north-to-northeast katabatic wind that can last for several days and reach speeds of up to 140 km/h (87 mph), thus sometimes bringing subzero temperatures to the entire city.