Description
The Victory Lighthouse is the great lighthouse that towers over the Gulf of Trieste from the Gretta hill. It is both a real lighthouse, guiding ships at night, and a memorial to the sailors who died in the First World War.
Almost 68 metres tall, it was built between 1923 and 1927 to a design by the Trieste architect Arduino Berlam, modified after a heated debate by Guido Cirilli. The reinforced-concrete structure that holds it up is instead by the engineer Beniamino Battigelli. It stands on the remains of an Austrian fort from 1854, 60 metres above the sea.
The base is of Istrian and Karst stone. On the front stands the statue of the Unknown Sailor, 8.6 metres tall, carved from a hundred tonnes of Vrsar stone by the master stonemason Regolo Salandini. At the top, above the lantern, is a bronze winged Victory 7.2 metres tall: both are the work of Giovanni Mayer.
A large slab bears the inscription “Splendi e ricorda i caduti sul mare” (shine and remember those who fell at sea), with the years of the war. At the entrance are two shells from the Austrian battleship Viribus Unitis, and at the base an anchor with its own little story.
Everyone calls it the anchor of the Audace, the first Italian ship to enter the port of Trieste in 1918. In fact it comes from another ship, the Berenice: but the legend has held on.
The shape is no accident: the column was deliberately designed as an upside-down fasces. Reopened to visitors in 1986, the lighthouse can be visited only up to the first terrace, that of the monumental part, while the upper part, with the lantern, is closed to the public.
The lantern, enclosed in a bronze-and-glass cage 115 metres above sea level, turns full circle in 30 seconds and can be seen on average 30 miles away. The lighthouse is run by the Italian Navy, which manages all the lighthouses of the Adriatic from Venice.
Almost 68 metres tall, it was built between 1923 and 1927 to a design by the Trieste architect Arduino Berlam, modified after a heated debate by Guido Cirilli. The reinforced-concrete structure that holds it up is instead by the engineer Beniamino Battigelli. It stands on the remains of an Austrian fort from 1854, 60 metres above the sea.
The base is of Istrian and Karst stone. On the front stands the statue of the Unknown Sailor, 8.6 metres tall, carved from a hundred tonnes of Vrsar stone by the master stonemason Regolo Salandini. At the top, above the lantern, is a bronze winged Victory 7.2 metres tall: both are the work of Giovanni Mayer.
A large slab bears the inscription “Splendi e ricorda i caduti sul mare” (shine and remember those who fell at sea), with the years of the war. At the entrance are two shells from the Austrian battleship Viribus Unitis, and at the base an anchor with its own little story.
Everyone calls it the anchor of the Audace, the first Italian ship to enter the port of Trieste in 1918. In fact it comes from another ship, the Berenice: but the legend has held on.
The shape is no accident: the column was deliberately designed as an upside-down fasces. Reopened to visitors in 1986, the lighthouse can be visited only up to the first terrace, that of the monumental part, while the upper part, with the lantern, is closed to the public.
The lantern, enclosed in a bronze-and-glass cage 115 metres above sea level, turns full circle in 30 seconds and can be seen on average 30 miles away. The lighthouse is run by the Italian Navy, which manages all the lighthouses of the Adriatic from Venice.