Austrian until 1918. Joyce wrote Ulysses here. Freud studied here. Rilke wrote at Duino Castle above the sea. The coffee culture is Viennese: nero not espresso, capo in b not cappuccino, drunk in caffè letterari unchanged since the Habsburgs. Piazza Unità d'Italia — Europe's largest sea-facing square — opens directly onto the Adriatic. Behind the city: the Carso, where osmize (farmer wine bars, 8 days a year, branch on the door = open) serve Terrano red and prosciutto cotto nel pane for €10, no menu, no bill until you leave.
Plan Trieste →€10. Archduke Maximilian built this white castle on a sea cliff in 1856, then left to be Emperor of Mexico and was executed at 34. His wife went insane. The castle is frozen in that moment. The gardens (free) descend to the sea.
Farmers sell wine 8 days/year. Sit, they bring what they have. Terrano, Vitovska, prosciutto, cheese. €8-15. Google "osmize aperte Trieste" for today's open ones.