In 1810 the religious and civil equality of all citizens was proclaimed. Any form of discrimination against Jews still in force is eliminated.The return of Austria and the period of the Restoration, characterized in all the territories of the Habsburgs by a strong centralism and a capillary police control, restore some prohibitions against the Jews ( including that of the public service, the prohibition of owning properties or the need for a permit to get married). , grains and oriental aromatic herbs. The nineteenth century saw the economic life of the Trieste emporium develop in an impetuous way and marked the moment of greatest civil and cultural flowering of the Jews of Trieste. The first insurance and shipping companies were born in the port of the Habsburgs, while maritime traffic experienced an unprecedented impulse.

The Jewish component continues to play a leading role, which is still witnessed today by the sumptuous palaces that characterize the city: Hierschel palace along the Grand Canal; Palazzo Carciotti, the first and most original example of neoclassical in Trieste, designed by the architect Matteo Pertsch, the first headquarters of Assicurazioni Generali;

Between the 19th and 20th centuries, the city experienced a steady stream of Jews fleeing the pogroms of Eastern Europe and Russia and headed for Palestine or the Americas. Until the outbreak of the Second World War, Trieste was the main port of embarkation for Israel, so much so that it earned the title of “Shaar Zion”, “Gate of Zion”. A clear sign of the importance reached by the Trieste community in the first half of the twentieth century is the construction of the monumental synagogue in Piazza Giotti, still today one of the symbols of multi-religious Trieste. The Great Synagogue

In September 1938, in a speech delivered precisely in Trieste, in Piazza Unità, Benito Mussolini announced the promulgation of the racial laws. Thus the complete expulsion of Jewish citizens from civil society is sanctioned. Their right of ownership is limited and, with retroactive effect, Italian citizenship is revoked from those who obtained it after 1919, thus creating about 500 stateless persons without any protection, also unable to emigrate because they lack a passport. 1939, the Jewish community which until then had represented a fundamental element of reference and cohesion was dissolved. Since 1941, also in the wake of the war, the persecution becomes increasingly bitter. Accidents and ill-treatment followed one another until the devastation, on July 18, 1942, of the majestic Synagogue. Intimidations and aggressions also marked 1943, the year that represented a dramatic turning point for the Community of Trieste, on 8 September the plan was triggered. of German occupation and Trieste, capital of the Adriatic coast, was placed under direct German control. Anti-Semitic politics now turns to the final solution.

Between November and December 1943, the Risiera di San Sabba, a complex of industrial buildings from the early twentieth century, once used for rice husking and then as barracks, was transformed into the only extermination camp built in Italy. To manage it are called military and officers already experienced in the atrocities of the final solution in Poland. At the Risiera, between 4 and 5 thousand people die, mostly political opponents, Italian, Slovenian and Croatian partisans. There are fewer than a hundred Jewish victims. For Jews, the San Sabba camp is in fact only a temporary accommodation pending deportation, usually towards Auschwitz.The Trieste community is deeply affected. At least 700 people, 10 percent of Italian Jews were deported and only 19 will return from the extermination camps, mostly women, who will witness the horror they suffered. After the war, a thousand survivors hiding in Italy or Switzerland return to the city. Many of them will emigrate to Palestine or the Americas. About 1,500 Jews remain in Trieste and in the mid-1960s a net imbalance between deaths and births will reduce their number by about 500. Today the Jewish Community of Trieste has almost 600 members and is considered an average reality at national level.