Trieste, Italy Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Backed by the green and white cliffs of a limestone plateau and facing the blue Adriatic, TRIESTE has a potentially idyllic setting; close up, however, the place reveals uninviting water and an atmosphere of run-down haughtiness. Grass is pushing up from the concrete in its main squares, and the canal, clustered with open-air cafés, is little more than a sad reminder of the city's lovelier neighbour Venice. The city itself is rather strange: a capitalist creation built to play a role that no longer exists, though like so many ports in Europe, the seediness that long prevailed is now giving way to a nascent … more »