Piazza Unità d'Italia
The largest square in Europe facing the sea
In the heart of Trieste, open on one side towards the Adriatic, Piazza Unità d'Italia is one of the most beautiful and spectacular squares in Italy, often described as the largest square in Europe facing the sea, with a surface of about 12,000 square metres. It is surrounded on three sides by grand palaces of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which tell of the period when Trieste was the great port of the Habsburg Empire, one of the richest and most cosmopolitan cities in Europe: the Palazzo del Municipio, the town hall, with its clock tower, the Palazzo del Governo, with its façade decorated with gold mosaics that shine in the sun, the Palazzo del Lloyd Triestino, seat of the great shipping company, and the elegant Palazzo Stratti, home of the historic Caffè degli Specchi.
In the centre of the square stands the Baroque Fountain of the Four Continents, of the eighteenth century, with statues representing the continents then known, symbol of the city's commercial ambitions. On the side facing the sea, the square opens onto the Rive, the seafront, and the Molo Audace, a long stone pier that juts out into the gulf, named after the first Italian ship that landed here on 3 November 1918, at the end of the First World War, when Trieste became Italian. Walking to the end of the pier at sunset, with the sea on three sides, is one of the most loved rituals of the Triestini. In winter, the square can be swept by the bora, the cold, violent north-easterly wind typical of Trieste.
Tip: walk to the end of the Molo Audace at sunset; come back in the evening, when the palaces are lit up.
Where it is
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