CHURCH OF SANT’ANTONIO TAUMATURGO – TRIESTE
The Church of Sant’Antonio Taumaturgo popularly called “Sant’Antonio Nuovo” was built on the site where a private chapel dedicated to the Annunciation had already been erected in 1767, which was later demolished because it was small compared to the public. In its place, in 1771, another church in Baroque style was erected but also the latter proved inadequate to the religious needs of the population which, in the meantime, had grown together with the great development of the Borgo Teresiano.
The Church of Sant’Antonio Taumaturgo was built between 1825 and 1849 to a design by the architect Pietro Nobile. An outstanding monument of neoclassical architecture. At the entrance to the church, under the pronaos, there is a plaque: “Because of the cholera that raged in Trieste on 15 October this church was consecrated on 15 November 1849”.
Once the Church was reflected in the waters of the Canal. The main facade is characterized by a majestic pronaos with six Ionic columns and a large pediment while, at the top, there are six statues sculpted, in 1842 by Francesco Bosa, depicting the patron saints of Trieste, San Giusto, San Sergio, San Servolo , San Mauro, Sant’Eufemia and Santa Tecla. The interior is striking for the great grandeur of the twelve Ionic columns and is divided into three naves with three respective altars and three lateral cross vaults that culminate in the large central dome.
In the apse, the fresco depicting the “Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem” was painted in 1836 by Sebastiano Santi. Next to one of the altars on the left opens the door that leads to the presbytery and to a small chapel, called the Visitation, where the painting of the same name is kept, the work has been attributed to Alessandro Longhi, the most famous Venetian portrait painter of the epoch.
Six altarpieces framed by the altars depict Sant’Anna educating the Virgin (Michelangelo Grigoretti), the presentation in the temple (Felice Schiavoni), San Giuseppe (Johann Schonmann), Sant’Antonio (Odorico Politi), the passion of Eufemia, Tecla, Erasma and Dorotea (Ludovico Lipparini), the Crucifix (Ernest Tunner).
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.
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.