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Trieste
Tourist information - Trieste
Trieste is the smallest province in Italy, and perhaps also the most isolated. For evidence of this, simply take a look at any map: it consists of a thin stretch of land which runs between the sea and the upland plains which border the former Yugoslavia. This border area is fraught with tensions, as the city has not yet learnt to coexist peacefully with its foreign neighbours.
Surrounding the highly urbanised areas in the centre and the south, stands a veritable constellation of small towns and villages such as Sgonico, Monrupino, Duino, Basovizza and San Pelagio which are predominantly inhabited by the Slovenian-speaking minority. In recent years, these areas have witnessed the construction of a number of country cottages and villas of considerable market value.
The city’s geographical isolation is reflected in its personality. It is at once lonely, mysterious, alluring, conservative, pensive, a little primitive, perennially tired and taciturn. It is chock full of banks (unlike other Italian administrative towns), but is nonetheless lacking in any great entrepreneurial spirit, unlike the nearby Friuili an industrious boom town. It is a fairly old city and a hotbed of science and the arts, a city which extends a friendly welcome to people of all nationalities. Until 1954, it was under U.S. military rule. It is a carefree city with a love for the finer things in life. What could be more pleasurable than a glass of wine, a walk around the Carso and a meal in a good restaurant? Just sit back and watch the frenetic pace of everday life grind slowly to a halt.
Trieste is a beautiful and extraordinary city, anchored to a past which it can not forget. It is constantly battered by the Bora - an icy and powerful north-easterly wind which is tolerated as an inevitable feature of life in Trieste.
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