Description
The Town Hall fills the whole far side of Piazza Unità d'Italia in Trieste, facing the sea: a long eclectic façade of arches, mullioned windows with two and three lights, and the clock tower in the middle. It is the seat of the city council and the backdrop of every photo of the square.
It was designed by the Triestine Giuseppe Bruni and built between 1873 and 1875, in place of the old Magistrate's palace. Bruni took up its shapes and character, and the project was also liked because it stayed within the planned budget.
The first thing to see is the façade: two four-storey wings and a taller, more richly decorated central block. On the ground floor the round arches give the impression of a portico, while higher up the windows open with two and three lights.
At the top of the clock tower two bronze Moors strike the hours on a bell. The people of Trieste call them Micheze and Jacheze, from the Slovene Mihec and Jakec. Bruni wanted them in memory of the two Moors on the Mandracchio tower, the old harbour gate demolished in 1838.
The ones on the tower today are copies: the originals, cast by Fausto Asteo da Ceneda and in service from January 1876, were taken down in 1972. After more than thirty years in storage they were restored and placed at the entrance of the Castle of San Giusto.
At first the people of Trieste did not like the building at all, and they paid it back with a string of nicknames. "Palazzo Cheba", meaning birdcage; "Palazzo Sipario", the curtain, because it hid the shabby houses of the old town from the square; and also "Budel de Lionfante" and "Castel de Mandolato".
Opposite pages of Italian history have passed through its square. In 1938, from a stage in front of the Town Hall, Mussolini announced the racial laws. On 4 November 1954, from the central balcony, President Luigi Einaudi and Mayor Gianni Bartoli greeted the crowd celebrating Trieste's return to Italy.
At the back, towards Largo dei Granatieri, the building was extended between 1937 and 1940: the new wing connects to the old one through a semicircular courtyard, designed as a reading room for the archive.
It was designed by the Triestine Giuseppe Bruni and built between 1873 and 1875, in place of the old Magistrate's palace. Bruni took up its shapes and character, and the project was also liked because it stayed within the planned budget.
The first thing to see is the façade: two four-storey wings and a taller, more richly decorated central block. On the ground floor the round arches give the impression of a portico, while higher up the windows open with two and three lights.
At the top of the clock tower two bronze Moors strike the hours on a bell. The people of Trieste call them Micheze and Jacheze, from the Slovene Mihec and Jakec. Bruni wanted them in memory of the two Moors on the Mandracchio tower, the old harbour gate demolished in 1838.
The ones on the tower today are copies: the originals, cast by Fausto Asteo da Ceneda and in service from January 1876, were taken down in 1972. After more than thirty years in storage they were restored and placed at the entrance of the Castle of San Giusto.
At first the people of Trieste did not like the building at all, and they paid it back with a string of nicknames. "Palazzo Cheba", meaning birdcage; "Palazzo Sipario", the curtain, because it hid the shabby houses of the old town from the square; and also "Budel de Lionfante" and "Castel de Mandolato".
Opposite pages of Italian history have passed through its square. In 1938, from a stage in front of the Town Hall, Mussolini announced the racial laws. On 4 November 1954, from the central balcony, President Luigi Einaudi and Mayor Gianni Bartoli greeted the crowd celebrating Trieste's return to Italy.
At the back, towards Largo dei Granatieri, the building was extended between 1937 and 1940: the new wing connects to the old one through a semicircular courtyard, designed as a reading room for the archive.