« Per me al mondo non v’ha un più caro e fido
luogo di questo. Dove mai più solo
mi sento e in buona compagnia che al molo
San Carlo, e più mi piace l’onda e il lido? » 
Umberto Saba

With 246 meters in length, the Audace pier is one of the most evocative in Italy. In 1740, the “San Carlo” frigate of the Austrian navy with 70 guns sank on the Riva in front of “Piazza Grande” (the current Piazza Unità d’Italia) and recovery was impossible.

The authorities decided to use the wreck as a base for the construction of the pier which took the name in homage of the ship “San Carlo”. It originally measured 95 meters in length and a wooden bridge connected it to the mainland. In 1861 the pier was lengthened to the current size and the wooden bridge removed. In the second half of the 1700s it was extended and joined to the mainland. The San Carlo wharf became a docking site for passenger and merchant ships, performing a fundamental function for the logistics of transport and trade for the entire city.

At the end of the Great War, on November 3, 1918, the first Italian ship, the destroyer Audace, which gave the pier its name, docked at Molo San Carlo.

At the end of the Great War, on November 3, 1918, the first Italian ship, the destroyer Audace, which gave the name to the pier, docked at Molo San Carlo. One of its anchors is displayed at the base of the Victory Lighthouse.

In 1925, to commemorate the landing, a bronze Compass Rose was placed on top of the pier on the white stone column.

The epigraph in the center of the Rose reads: “Here landed the R. Audace ship first with the flag of Italy – III NOVEMBER MCMXVIII”.

Today the Molo Audace no longer has the functions of maritime and merchant traffic and is one of the most loved places by Trieste and tourists who, fascinated by the landscape and the spectacular sunsets over the sea, stroll along the pier “suspended over the water”.