Category: Blog

james joyce trieste

JAMES JOYCE – TRIESTE

The statue of James Joyce was created by the Trieste sculptor Nino Spagnoli and placed in Ponterosso on the Grand Canal in 2004 to commemorate the centenary of the Irish writer’s arrival in Trieste.
james joyce

Under the statue a plaque

recalls the writer’s deep bond with the city of Trieste. The 16th June of every year in Trieste since 2010 is Bloomsday the symbolic date in which James Joyce’s scholars and passionate readers all over the world celebrate the Irish writer. of the hero of the novel Ulysses, Leopold Bloom, through the streets of his Dublin.

James Joyce arrived in Trieste on October 20, 1904 with his partner Nora Barnacle to work as a teacher at the Berlitz School. Unfortunately the place was no longer available and was sent to Pula where there was a new school location. He returned to Trieste in 1905 at the birth of his first son Giorgio and in the meantime he was joined by his brother Stanislaus who began to work at the Berlitz School. In 1907, after a period in Rome where he worked as a clerk at Nast, Kolb & Schumacher Bank, he returned to Trieste. Here he lectured on behalf of the Popular University and published Chamber Music. He began to teach private students belonging to the Trieste high bourgeoisie, including Italo Svevo. Between the two began a deep relationship of friendship and mutual respect.

Italo Svevo had already published his first two books “Una Vita” and “Senilità”, but no one had dealt with them. Joyce read them and urged Svevo to keep writing. Meanwhile Joyce’s life was divided between private lessons, the chair at the Revoltella Higher School of Commerce, the conferences at the Popular University and his first publications Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners also arrived. He began to design the first parts of the Ulysses.

At the outbreak of the First World War he had to leave Trieste for Zurich to return in October 1919, remaining there until June 1920. During this period Joyce wrote Nausicaa and Oxen of the Sun, two episodes of Ulysses, and began the episode entitled Circe. He moved to Paris and never returned to Trieste. Ulysses was published in 1922.

CANAL GRANDE – TRIESTE

Posted By : v.cortese/ 914 0

The Grand Canal was a shallow sea water course useful for the adjacent salt pans which were cut by three channels, the “Small Canal” also called “Canal del vino”, which reached up to Piazza Vecchia, the “Canal maestro”, which it became the current Grand Canal along until it touched the church of Sant’Antonio and a third, which reached via Ghega. At that time the salt flats were one of the main sources of income for the city.

In 1754-1756, to develop the urban area of ​​the city outside the walls, Borgo Teresiano was designed, with a checkerboard layout, consisting of regular blocks alternating with channels for loading and unloading goods. Then the works of the Venetian Matteo Pirona were authorized whose project was to create a large canal through the burying of the salt flats and the further excavation of the main collector.But the Neapolitan captain Caracciolo completed the great project: he widened the watercourse and covered the new sides with natural stone, dug deeper and the earth removed was used to level the space in front of the current Church of S. Antonio Nuovo, giving rise to the Piazza del Ponte Rosso. A guardhouse was set up on the Canal to defend the warehouses from possible attacks by the Venetian Republic, which did not see the rise of a possible commercial competition on the same sea of ​​exclusive dominion.Subsequently, the dilapidated buildings overlooking the canal were demolished and replaced from two-storey houses with the possibility of raising other floors over time. The ground floor was dedicated to department stores and emporiums for all kinds of goods and the upper floors to private residences.

The Grand Canal, 370 meters long and 28 meters wide, was completed in 1756 and the cost was around 90,000 florins. In 1756, in the middle of the canal to join the two opposite banks, “Ponte Rosso” was built, first in wood, painted red, from which the bridge and the adjacent square takes its name, and, later, in 1832, replaced with a in iron with the opening in the center in order to make it movable and openable. In 1827 to connect the Riva Carciotti (today III November) with the other side of the Canal, the Green Bridge was built, so called for the color it assumed and was opened every day to allow ships to enter the heart of the city.
In 1904, to facilitate greater freedom of movement of the railway line connecting the Central Station with that of S.Andrea, later called Campo Marzio, a third bridge was built, which the citizens baptized with the name of “Ponte Bianco” and while on this spilled over the railway line, the electric tram rails passed over the nearby Ponte Verde. After the Second World War the two bridges disappeared to make way for a single large stone passage that connected the Riva with the Corso Cavour. In 1934 to connect via San Spiridione with Via Filzi instead of building a new bridge, the entire last part of the canal was buried with the rubble resulting from the demolition of the old city, thus obtaining the current Piazza Sant’Antonio …

It is said that in 1917 two small torpedo boats, belonging to the Austrian Navy, were moored in the Ponterosso Canal. For many years it was the object of play for many children of the time who climbed on it and had nicknamed it “el sotomarìn”. Between the years 1930-1932 the first part of the canal was buried and the torpedo boat was buried with building material deriving from some demolitions of old houses in the old town ….

Today the Grand Canal is one of the most loved places by Trieste and tourists. Restaurants and cafes line the banks of the canal offering the city’s food and wine specialties

PILONI PORTABANDIERA – PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

The flagpoles of Piazza Unità d’Italia are made up of 6 meter high piles that support the 25 meter antennas on which the two halberds, the city’s coat of arms, of duralumin are placed.

The sculptural part, commissioned to the Trieste sculptor Attilio Selva, is 4.25 meters high and represents the drivers, who fought in the First World War, while they stand guard over the banners of Trieste and Italy. They were inaugurated on 24 May 1933 in the presence of the Duke of Aosta Amedeo di Savoia.

COLONNA DELL’IMPERATORE CARLO VI – PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

In 1728, on the occasion of the visit of Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg, son of Emperor Leopold I of Austria, the statue in his honor was erected in the current Piazza Unità and was provisionally built in wood and gilded. In 1756 it was replaced by the current stone statue of the Venetian sculptor Lorenzo Fonoli.
colonna carlo VI piazza unità d'italia trieste

The Emperor Charles VI had established the free port in Trieste in 1719, and the position of the statue’s index is facing the sea, while the gaze is towards Piazza della Borsa, the new center of the city’s economic activities.

fontana dei quattro continenti piazza unità d'italia trieste

LA FONTANA DEI QUATTRO CONTINENTI – PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

Posted By : v.cortese/ 1164 0

The Fountain of the Four Continents, located in front of the Town Hall in Piazza Unità d’Italia, was created between 1751 and 1754 by the Bergamo sculptor Giovanni Battista Mazzoleni, also author of the Giovanin Fountain in Piazza Ponterosso and of the Neptune Fountain in Piazza of the Stock Exchange.

The intention was to present Trieste to the world as a city aided by Fortuna through the establishment of the Portofranco and the liberal policy of Charles VI and Maria Teresa.

fontana dei quattro continenti piazza unità d'italia trieste

The four statues at the corner of the basin represent the four continents with an animal and each represents one of the four continents then known: Europe with the horse, Asia with the camel, Africa with the lion and America with the crocodile. Oceania-Australia had not yet been discovered. Allegorical figures of Rivers pour water from their jars into the shells below; below the water gushes from the mouths of four dolphins, falling back into the large pools.

fontana dei quattro continenti piazza unità ditalia triesteOn the top, the Angel of Fame with spread wings overlooks the young figure of Trieste, lying on the rocks of the Carso, and surrounded by bundles, barrels, bales of cotton and ropes, in the act of addressing a merchant in oriental clothing. In 1938 the fountain was removed from the square to make way for the stage for the meeting of Benito Mussolini visiting the city. It returned to the square in the seventies after being restored.

 

 

IL PALAZZO DEL GOVERNO – PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

Built between 1901 and 1905, inspired by the architecture of the Renaissance and the style of the Viennese Secession, designed by the Viennese architect Immanuel Artmann, it was the seat of the Austrian Lieutenancy.

It is a wonderful building embellished by a Florentine loggia with a decoration of Murano glass mosaics.

In the upper part of the external facade, facing the square, there are drawings, allegorical heads and medallions with the coat of arms of the House of Savoy made after the First World War, replacing the original mosaics, designed by Giuseppe Straka of Vienna, which featured elements of Austrian derivation . Today the building houses the offices of the Government Commissariat in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region as well as those of the Prefecture. High personalities of the State and of Foreign States, on an official visit to the city and the region, are welcomed by the large and majestic halls of national government representation.

palazzo del lloyd piazza unità trieste

PALAZZO DEL LLOYD TRIESTINO – PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

The first stone of the building was laid on December 6, 1880, the day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of sailors, based on a project by the architect Heinrich von Ferstel, famous for the construction of many architectural works in Vienna. The building stands on the place where once there was the old squero di San Nicolò which was buried and then occupied for a period by a square used as a market. Reminiscent of the Renaissance style, symbol of the Trieste lordship on the sea.

On the façade, at the top, the inscription “Lloyd Triestino” is visible, placed in the 1930s to replace a large coat of arms of the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd. At the top two Winged Victories: the one on the left raises an oak branch symbol of strength and at its side a young man symbolizes work, the one on the right raises a laurel wreath symbol of glory flanked by a young man sitting on a boat that symbolizes the sea . On the parapet, from left to right, the statues of Aeolus (god of winds), Mercury (god of trade), Vulcan (prince of earthly fire) and Neptune (god of the seas) dominate.

palazzo vanoli piazza unità d'italia trieste

PALAZZO VANOLI – PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

Palazzo Vanoli which is currently the site of the Grand Hotel Duchi D’Aosta, already in ancient times from the fourteenth-century “Hospitium Magnum” to the Renaissance “Locanda del Porto”, gave hospitality to foreign merchants who came to Trieste to stock up on sailors and goods .
palazzo vonoli piazza unità d'italia trieste

In 1700 it became the “Locanda Grande” owned by the Municipality and the main hotel in the city. The emperors Joseph II and Leopold II, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples and Admiral Orazio Nelson stayed there, among others.

The inn was restored around 1767 by the Udine architect Giovanni Fusconi and on June 8, 1768, the archaeologist and art historian J. Winckelmann, who was staying there, was assassinated by the chef Francesco Arcangeli. The “Locanda Grande” was demolished in 1867 and in its place, in 1873, the architects Eugenio Geiringer and Giovanni Righetti built the current building with the function of hotel and restaurant.
palazzo vonoli piazza unità d'italia trieste

Originally it was called Hotel Garni, then Vanoli managed by the hotelier Pietro Vanoli, where in 1912 electricity was introduced. From 1972 it became the Gran Hotel Duchi d’Aosta and Harry’s Bar, owned by the Benvenuti family.

palazzo pitteri piazza unità d'italia trieste

PALAZZO PITTERI- PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

Posted By : v.cortese/ 779 0

The building originally housed the Piccardi houses and the Locanda Grande, accommodation for passing foreigners, then in 1780, by order of the shopkeeper Domenico Plenario, the architect Ulderico Moro designed a building in the Triestine neoclassical style with baroque influences and rococo. In 1801 the palace was bought by Giovanni Lovovitz. In 1834 the entire property passed to the scholar Riccardo Pitteri. In 1880 the Caffè Flora was opened on the ground floor at the behest of Giuseppe Mander. During the day the Café was the meeting place for the choristers of the Verdi theater, located adjacent to the Piazza, while at night it was frequented by the proletarian inhabitants of Cittavecchia. In 1982 the architects Celli and Tognon made a general renovation of the building. The building later became the property of the Lloyd Adriatico insurance company.

palazzo modello piazza unità trieste

PALAZZO MODELLO – PIAZZA UNITA’ D’ITALIA – TRIESTE

Next to Palazzo Stratti stands the Model Building designed, on behalf of the Municipality, in 1870 by the architect Giuseppe Bruni, the same architect as the Town Hall Building.

The name Model was chosen because it had to be an architectural model for the renovation of the Piazza Grande. It occupies the place where the two churches of San Rocco and San Pietro were located at the north-east entrance of the square. The civic chapel of San Pietro during the Middle Ages was also the seat of civil justice debates and was flanked at the end of the plague in 1602 by the chapel of San Rocco. The chapel of San Pietro was demolished in 1822 and the church of San Rocco in 1869.
palazzo modello piazza unità d'Italia trieste

The Model Building was rented as an inn by the Hotel Delorme, named after its manager the Frenchman Antonio Delorme, cook of Baron Pasquale Revoltella. A prestigious hotel with rooms and apartments also for large families, toilets on each floor, restaurant and views of the square and the sea, and fairly low prices. The hotel closed in 1912 and since 2008 has housed the offices and management of Acegas-Aps, the company that manages water, gas and electricity supply services.

palazzo modello piazza unità d'italia triesteOriginal are the statues, the Telamons, located on the top floor, sculpted in the act of touching the genitals in a superstitious gesture.