Umberto Saba, Autobiography
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It was established by Leopoldo I of Habsburg in 1696 in the then peripheral area of court Trauner and on November 28, 1696 by imperial decree, it was transferred to Riborgo, the commercial heart of Trieste, welcoming the protests of the Jewish community that wanted to be closer to the places where the economic life of the city took place.
The Jewish population is assigned 13 houses around the square, known as the Jewish Schools, and along two parallel districts that divide the neighborhood in a north-south direction. In 1697, after other houses were requisitioned, about a hundred Jews entered the ghetto.
The ghetto is accessed from the Portizza and is surrounded by a high wall with three entrance doors: in piazza del Rosario, at the end of via Beccherie and in Riborgo, at the time guarded night and day by Christian guards.
The proclamation of the free port of Trieste in 1719, by Charles VI of Habsburg, brings with it privileges and freedoms for all and also for the increasingly numerous Jewish community and which assumes, with the flourishing of traffic and commerce, a central role in the city. In 1748 the first synagogue was built, the Shola n.1, of the German rite, destroyed by a fire in 1822. It was rebuilt three years later and remained active until 1935 as an oratory. In 1771 Maria Theresa finally granted the Jews of Trieste two sovereign licenses, real regulations which provide, among other things, the exemption from the obligation to wear the distinctive yellow sign and the abolition of the special tax on the person (Leibsteuer) , which had to be paid by every Jew to enter another city. In 1784 the Emperor Joseph II instituted the Licenses of Tolerance. Jews are thus admitted to the office of deputies on the Stock Exchange, to exercise professional activities hitherto prohibited and at the university and, the following year, segregation was abolished. Other synagogues were built which were destroyed along with a large part of the ancient ghetto during the rehabilitation carried out by fascism from 1928 to 1937.
From the demolition of the synagogues, objects of worship have been preserved in the Museum of Carlo and Vera Wagner in via del Monte 7. Between 1797 and 1813 Trieste undergoes the occupation of Napoleonic troops three times, which marks the conquest of the Jews. rights.
Androna del Pane named after the Servolane bread vendors who arrived in the city with their baskets of warm bread.Androna del Pane was also named Androna della Rizza which was the name of a prostitute who lived in Androna and was well known in the ‘environment. In these streets of Cittavecchia there were about 40 brothels and more than 350 prostitutes who practiced the trade, all regularly registered and with medical assistance. The tiny brothel called “The cubic meter” is perhaps foreshadowed in a letter from Joyce to Svevo in which the Irish writer recalls “the brothels of public insecurity” in the area.
Via Beccherie is one of the oldest streets in the city. In 1754, a new municipal slaughterhouse was built nearby and this road was destined for meat sellers.
The last stretch of via Beccherie, towards the current Largo Riborgo, was destroyed in 1934 and the Casa del Fascio, the current Police Headquarters, was built in its place in 1938.
Via del Ponte runs from via Beccherie to Piazza Vecchia and until 1749 there was a wooden bridge that crossed the Canale della Portizza, known as the “Piccolo” or “del Vino” canal, where cargo boats used to forward.
Piazza Vecchia si contraddistingueva da Piazza Nuova, la piazza situata dietro il palazzo del Comune che in futuro diventerà prima Piazza Grande e poi Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia.
Piazza Vecchia un tempo era nota come Piazzetta del Rosario per la presenza di una confraternita di cittadini devoti che,nel 1613 chiesero la costruzione di una cappella detta del Rosario che per le leggi di Giuseppe II, fu chiusa nel 1784 e venduta alla Comunità evangelica di Cofessione Augustana, la quale ne mutò il titolo dedicandola alla SS. Trinità. Il fregio con dentro il triangolo e l’occhio, emblema del mistero della Santissima trinità. è ancora presente sulla facciata e sull’arco del presbiterio. nel 1869 il Comune demolita la chiesa di San Pietro, cappella comunale, la riacquistò destinandola a nuova cappella civica, facendo costruire in cambio la chiesa di Largo Panfili.
The name of Via delle Ombrelle, from Via Beccherie to Piazza Vecchia, derives from the presence of the residence of a Brescian dedicated to repairing umbrellas: Giacomo Malgarini.
In via Malcanton fino al 1753 c’erano le mura dell’antica Trieste che in questa strada formavano un angolo detto in dialetto “canton” e poichè era frequentata da malviventi da qui il nome di Malcanton.
Le vie del quartiere sono tuttora sede di negozi e di professioni tipiche dell’antiquariato, della vendita e del restauro di mobili, suppellettili e libri nonchè ristoranti e pub caratteristici.
