Description
San Giusto Cathedral is Trieste's cathedral, on top of San Giusto Hill, which towers over the old town and the port. Outside it is plain, almost stern; inside it holds Byzantine-school mosaics on a gold ground that alone are worth the climb.
The church was born of a union: between 1302 and 1320 Bishop Rodolfo Pedrazzani brought two older churches, Santa Maria and the shrine of San Giusto, under a single roof. That is why the interior has no fewer than five naves.
The gabled façade is dominated by a large rose window in Karst stone, carved on site by stonemasons brought in from Soncino, near Cremona, the bishop's home town. The city still remembers them in the name of Via dei Soncini.
The façade and bell tower are full of reused Roman pieces: the entrance portal, for example, was made from an ancient funerary monument. On the façade, bronze busts of some illustrious bishops stand on brackets that started life as Roman pedestals.
On the bell tower, in a Gothic niche, a statue of San Giusto from the 10th-11th century holds a model of the city in one hand and the palm of martyrdom in the other. The head was salvaged from elsewhere, which is why it is out of proportion with the body.
Inside, beneath the 14th-century wooden ceiling shaped like a ship's keel, the highlight is the mosaics of the side apses. On the left, the Madonna enthroned with the Child, on a gold ground between two archangels, and below her the apostles in a meadow: 12th-century work.
In the right-hand apse is Christ Pantocrator, slender, stern and noble, between San Giusto and San Servolo, the work of Byzantine mosaicists of the early 13th century. A side chapel keeps the frescoes of the San Giusto Cycle, among the few survivors of the church's early decoration.
Behind a Baroque grille is the Treasury, looted in 1984 but still rich in precious objects. Among them is the halberd of Saint Sergius, the symbol of Trieste: legend says it fell miraculously into the city's forum on the day the saint was martyred in Syria.
The bell tower has its own story too. It used to be taller, but in 1422 lightning struck it and it was cut down to its present height. Its five bells are the second-largest peal in Friuli Venezia Giulia, after that of Udine Cathedral.
Don't miss
• The rose window.
• The statue of San Giusto on the bell tower.
• The mosaics of the apses.
• The halberd of Saint Sergius.
Did you know?
• The largest bell was cast in 1829 from the bronze of cannons left behind by Napoleon.
• That bell inspired the patriotic song “La campana di San Giusto” of 1915, sung decades later by Luciano Pavarotti too.
The church was born of a union: between 1302 and 1320 Bishop Rodolfo Pedrazzani brought two older churches, Santa Maria and the shrine of San Giusto, under a single roof. That is why the interior has no fewer than five naves.
The gabled façade is dominated by a large rose window in Karst stone, carved on site by stonemasons brought in from Soncino, near Cremona, the bishop's home town. The city still remembers them in the name of Via dei Soncini.
The façade and bell tower are full of reused Roman pieces: the entrance portal, for example, was made from an ancient funerary monument. On the façade, bronze busts of some illustrious bishops stand on brackets that started life as Roman pedestals.
On the bell tower, in a Gothic niche, a statue of San Giusto from the 10th-11th century holds a model of the city in one hand and the palm of martyrdom in the other. The head was salvaged from elsewhere, which is why it is out of proportion with the body.
Inside, beneath the 14th-century wooden ceiling shaped like a ship's keel, the highlight is the mosaics of the side apses. On the left, the Madonna enthroned with the Child, on a gold ground between two archangels, and below her the apostles in a meadow: 12th-century work.
In the right-hand apse is Christ Pantocrator, slender, stern and noble, between San Giusto and San Servolo, the work of Byzantine mosaicists of the early 13th century. A side chapel keeps the frescoes of the San Giusto Cycle, among the few survivors of the church's early decoration.
Behind a Baroque grille is the Treasury, looted in 1984 but still rich in precious objects. Among them is the halberd of Saint Sergius, the symbol of Trieste: legend says it fell miraculously into the city's forum on the day the saint was martyred in Syria.
The bell tower has its own story too. It used to be taller, but in 1422 lightning struck it and it was cut down to its present height. Its five bells are the second-largest peal in Friuli Venezia Giulia, after that of Udine Cathedral.
Don't miss
• The rose window.
• The statue of San Giusto on the bell tower.
• The mosaics of the apses.
• The halberd of Saint Sergius.
Did you know?
• The largest bell was cast in 1829 from the bronze of cannons left behind by Napoleon.
• That bell inspired the patriotic song “La campana di San Giusto” of 1915, sung decades later by Luciano Pavarotti too.