Trieste

Trieste is a seaport and city in the North Eastern Italy. During the Austro-Hungarian era, Trieste became a leading European city in economy, trade and commerce, and was the fourth-largest and most important centre in the empire, after Vienna, Budapest and Prague. 

Trieste, with its deep-water port, is a maritime gateway for Northern Italy, Germany, Austria and Central Europe, as it was before 1918. It is considered the end point of the Maritime Silk Roads thanks to its connections to the Suez Canal and Turkey. Since the 1960s, Trieste, thanks to its many international organisations and institutions, has been one of the most important research locations in Europe with an international school and university. The city, which lies at the intersection of Latin, Slavic, Germanic and Greek cultures, where Central Europe meets the Mediterranean Sea, is considered one of the literary capitals and was often referred to as an early New York City because of its diverse ethnic groups and religious communities.

After a failed Venetian coup, it became a important port and commercial hub for the Austrians. During the Napoleonic Wars the port city was occupied multiple times throughout the late 18th and early 19th century. 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Trieste was a bustling cosmopolitan city frequented by artists and philosophers such as Sigmund Freud, Zofka Kveder and Ivan Cankar. The city was the major port on the Austrian Riviera. and perhaps the only real enclave of Mitteleuropa on the Mediterranean. Viennese architecture and coffeehouses dominate the streets of Trieste to this day.