Description
The Canal Grande brings seawater right into Trieste, in the heart of the Borgo Teresiano, halfway between the station and Piazza Unità d'Italia. Moored boats, 19th-century palazzi, a neoclassical church at the end and the blue domes of San Spiridione, a few steps from the waterfront.
It was dug in 1754–1756 by the Venetian Matteo Pirona, by widening the main channel of the salt pans that were being filled in so the city could grow beyond its walls. It was meant for ships, which could sail right into the centre to load and unload goods.
At the end, beyond the garden of Piazza Sant'Antonio, you can see the neoclassical church of Sant'Antonio Taumaturgo, known to everyone as Sant'Antonio Nuovo. On the bank rise the pale blue domes of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Spyridon, in neo-Byzantine style.
Among the palazzi, Palazzo Gopcevich stands out with its red and yellow Greek-key façade; it houses the Carlo Schmidl Theatre Museum. On the corner with Piazza Sant'Antonio is the Stella Polare, one of Trieste's historic cafés.
Halfway along the canal is the Ponte Rosso, where the statue of James Joyce recalls the Irish writer's years in the city. The four lamps at the corners of the bridge once adorned the monument to Trieste's dedication to Austria, in front of the station, removed in 1919.
The names of the bridges, Rosso, Verde and Bianco (red, green and white), come from the colour their original structures were painted. Back then they swung or opened to let sailing ships in; today's masonry bridges let only small boats through, and only at low tide.
Next to the Ponte Rosso opens Piazza Ponterosso, with its fruit, vegetable and flower market and the 18th-century fountain of Giovannin de Ponterosso, a little cherub named after the water that came from the San Giovanni district.
Originally the canal was longer and reached all the way to the church of Sant'Antonio. The last stretch was filled in in 1934 with the rubble of the demolished old town, and Piazza Sant'Antonio was born there.
It is said that a small torpedo boat, left there since the end of the war, was buried under the square too. In the photographs of the works, though, there is no sign of any hull.
It was dug in 1754–1756 by the Venetian Matteo Pirona, by widening the main channel of the salt pans that were being filled in so the city could grow beyond its walls. It was meant for ships, which could sail right into the centre to load and unload goods.
At the end, beyond the garden of Piazza Sant'Antonio, you can see the neoclassical church of Sant'Antonio Taumaturgo, known to everyone as Sant'Antonio Nuovo. On the bank rise the pale blue domes of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Spyridon, in neo-Byzantine style.
Among the palazzi, Palazzo Gopcevich stands out with its red and yellow Greek-key façade; it houses the Carlo Schmidl Theatre Museum. On the corner with Piazza Sant'Antonio is the Stella Polare, one of Trieste's historic cafés.
Halfway along the canal is the Ponte Rosso, where the statue of James Joyce recalls the Irish writer's years in the city. The four lamps at the corners of the bridge once adorned the monument to Trieste's dedication to Austria, in front of the station, removed in 1919.
The names of the bridges, Rosso, Verde and Bianco (red, green and white), come from the colour their original structures were painted. Back then they swung or opened to let sailing ships in; today's masonry bridges let only small boats through, and only at low tide.
Next to the Ponte Rosso opens Piazza Ponterosso, with its fruit, vegetable and flower market and the 18th-century fountain of Giovannin de Ponterosso, a little cherub named after the water that came from the San Giovanni district.
Originally the canal was longer and reached all the way to the church of Sant'Antonio. The last stretch was filled in in 1934 with the rubble of the demolished old town, and Piazza Sant'Antonio was born there.
It is said that a small torpedo boat, left there since the end of the war, was buried under the square too. In the photographs of the works, though, there is no sign of any hull.