MORPURGO MUSEUM – TRIESTE
LIGHTHOUSE OF VICTORY – TRIESTE
The Victory Lighthouse was born from an idea of the Trieste architect Arduino Berlam who, after the defeat of Caporetto and the battle of the Piave, wanted to design an imposing work whose functions included the commemoration of the sailors who fell in the First World War and the guide for the night navigation in the Gulf of Trieste.
The works began in 1923 and the inauguration took place on May 24, 1927 in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III.
The Lighthouse was built on the Poggio di Gretta site, 60 meters above sea level and with a large base that incorporates the round
bastion of the former Austrian Fort Kressich, completed in 1854. One of the most important defense structures in the gulf and in the city, built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1854, remained efficient for almost thirty years. 12 long 48-pound, 5 short 48-pound, 10 24-pound, and 20 8-pound guns, a gallery with musket slots, a moat, a drawbridge, wide and deep dungeons and the connection to Barcola, all this constituted the Kressich Fort. The 68.85 meters high structure is clad in Orsera stone in the upper part and in Gabria karst stone in the lower part.
At the top of the column, the coffa, decorated with scales, supported by a capital and built in Naples, contains the bronze and crystal cage of the lantern.
MERIDIANA -PIAZZA DELLA BORSA – TRIESTE
In 1820, a 12-meter-long sundial was built on the floor in front of the ground floor of the Palazzo della Borsa, which was used to synchronize the marine clocks of the large ocean-going ships arriving in Trieste.
Through a hole made in a slit on the main facade of the Palazzo della Borsa, the sun’s rays penetrate until they reach the Sundial and thus the elliptical image of the Sun is formed at noon. it is recalled by a circle in white Aurisina stone bearing the name of the manufacturer of the Sundial, the Friulian watchmaker Antonio Sebastianutti and the date of the autumn equinox of 1820, 23 September.
ARCH OF RICCARDO -TRIESTE
The construction of the Arch of Riccardo probably dates back to the middle of the 1st century BC. and it has a height of 7.20 meters, width of 5.30 meters, depth of 2 meters and a plant motif in the archway.
The Arch is located on an ancient Roman road and it is assumed that it was a gate of the city walls of Tergeste, the Roman Trieste founded by Octavian Augustus, or the entrance to a sacred area dedicated to the Magna Mater. Even during the Middle Ages, the Arco di Riccardo retains the function of a door within a wider defense wall system.
There are several legends about the origin of the name. According to some, the choice was made in honor of King Richard the Lionheart held prisoner in Trieste on his return from the Holy Land. According to others, it derives from the deformation of the name King Charlemagne at the time of Frankish domination in Trieste between 787 and 788 or from the dialectal deformation of the Latin word “cardo maximus”, the name of one of the two main streets of Roman cities (the another is the “decumano maximus”).
THE GIRLS OF TRIESTE AND THE BERSAGLIERI
In 2004, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the return of the city of Trieste to Italy, it was inaugurated, near the Molo Audace, and in front of Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia, on the Royal Staircase of the Riva Caduti for the Italianness of Trieste ,
The monument of the Bersaglieri and the Girls of Trieste.
The work of the sculptor from Todi Fiorenzo Bacci recalls the landing of the Bersaglieri on November 3, 1918 and the Italian passion with which the Trieste girls (mules) had in sewing
the tricolor flag to be displayed upon Italy’s arrival in Trieste.
AUDACE PIER – TRIESTE
« 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”.
FOUNTAIN OF “GIOVANNIN DEL PONTEROSSO” – TRIESTE
The fountain was built by Giovanni Mazzoleni in the mid-eighteenth century, creator of the fountain of the Four Continents in Piazza Unità d’Italia. The water of the large basin, used by the citizens, came from the San Giovanni aqueduct.In the second half of the eighteenth century, the sculptor Giovanni Carlo Wagner sculpted a statue of a puttino and placed it on top of the fountain.
The street vendors of fruit and vegetables in the market in Piazza Ponterosso confidentially called the puttino Giovanin and on St. John’s day the fountain was decorated with flowers by the flower shops of the market
Before reaching the central basin, the path of the water is articulated through various sculptures. Starting from a shell, the water flows from three large masks and then descends on smaller shells supported by figures of telamons resting on small columns. Coming out of the mouth of the telamons, the water finally arrives in the large basin.
In ancient times the square was a market place and the fountain was decorated by street vendors of flowers on St. John’s day. It is said that the putto was dressed in black cloths when King Umberto was killed.