Trieste

Trieste (Latin Tergeste, Slovenian and Croatian Trst, German Triest): city (pop. ca. 260,000) in NE Italy, capital of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region and Trieste province.

By 177 BC, Trieste was under the control of Roman Empire. Trieste was granted the status of a colony under Julius Caesar. It was also he that recorded its name as Tergeste in his Comentarii di bello Gallico in 51 BC.

During the Middle Ages, Trieste grew into an important port and trade hub. Its role as the principal Austrian commercial port was emphasized by the construction of the Vienna-Trieste Railway, completed in 1857. By the end of the 19th century, Trieste was a buzzing cosmopolitan city, frequented by artists such as James Joyce, Zlatko Baloković and Italo Svevo. The thought of an Italian population under Austrian domination was a offense for Italian nationalists, which considered Trieste the main "unredeemed" territory; whence the term "irredentism" for the movement pleading for incorporation to the Italian state of every Italian population.

In 1921, after the end of World War I and the disintegration of Austria-Hungary, Trieste became a part of Italy.

On May 2 1945 troops of Yugoslav 4th Army together with Slovene 9th Corpus NOV liberated town from German Army. The same day the Allied Forces entered the town.

After World War II, in 1947, Trieste became the capital of the Free Territory of Trieste. When that state was dissolved in 1954, it reverted back to Italy.

The sights in Trieste include Miramare, a romantic castle built in 19th century for Austrian Archduke Maximilian and his wife.

Trieste is also the name Auguste Piccard gave to his second bathyscape, see Bathyscaphe Trieste.