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It may well be the least industrialized city of the Triveneto region and that with the highest average age in the country; it may also be a city whose mottos are "no can do", "leave well enough alone," and "if it ain't broke why fix it?" It may be, as an erstwhile local newspaper editor put it, the Naples of the North. In short, the city may well have many shortcomings. However, this does not necessarily mean that the fiercely conservative city of Trieste does not know how to appreciate fine cuisine and the good life.
Historically, Trieste has always been a melting pot of cultures and traditions, stretched out as it is between the sea and the Carso, only several kilometers from the border with Slovenia. The cuisine here has its own unique flavors and characteristics. The cafés and restaurants of central Trieste and the upland plains (the hilly area which lies behind the city) offer typically Central European dishes, a fusion of local cuisine and that of Hungary, Austria and the Slavic countries.
The people of Trieste are crazy about their food. Take away their factories, nightclubs, football team or amusement park; but don't take away their food. Sunday lunches with friends and dinners at the local trattoria (always at reasonable prices) are worth more to them than anything else. In recent years, hordes of tourists have also found this to be true, with a little help from the marketing strategies of the mayor Riccardo Illy, who is also a successful coffee merchant of the illy caffè, capable of selling sacks full of Arabic coffee all over the world, from the Maldives to Bahrain).
Trieste is not really the sort of place you would happen to pass through due to its location in the northernmost corner of Italy. However, there are hundreds of good reasons to come to Trieste, not least for its cuisine. Prepare yourself then, for a brief guided tour of some of the best eateries in the city.
If you should find yourself on or around the Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia (the largest seaside square in Europe), pop in to Pepi for a snack; a small café which has enjoyed a mention in the New York Times. Here, at any time of day or night, you can try boiled pork, toasted ham sandwiches, sausages with sauerkraut and horseradish and paprika sauces. These can be washed down with either beer or Terrano—a full-flavored red wine from the Carso region which even has a street named after it. Prices here are relatively low.
Alternatively, you could try Tommaseo or Specchi—two of Trieste's oldest cafés. These both have elegant lounge areas and warm, friendly atmospheres. A word of warning: if you order a cappuccino in these parts, you will get what is known in the rest of Italy as caffè macchiato caldo, served in a small cup with frothy milk.
If however, you would prefer to combine elegance with tradition and modernity with delicious flavors, you should try the Suban trattoria which offers gastronomic delights for carnivores. In an impeccably elegant setting, you will be able to choose from an excellent selection of both international and local dishes including Jota, a hearty bacon rind soup, goulash, tripe, veal stew, bread gnocchi or gnocchi stuffed with jam or prunes, ham and an excellent selection of desserts.
Seafood is a must in a place like Trieste. There are dozens of seafood restaurants here and they are all of the highest quality so you will be spoiled for choice. However, you should definitely visit either the Faro (a trattoria offering magnificent panoramic views of the gulf, set at the feet of the imposing Faro della Vittoria and only a five-minute drive from the city center) or the Nuovo Antico Pavone — an elegant restaurant on the coast.
Trieste is a small place, and it is possible to traverse it within half an hour (either on foot or by bus). As you walk across it, you will pass a large number of excellent cafés and restaurants. There are several which are not to be missed, including Stalletta for its cold starters, meat and hotplate dishes and Dardo Rosso for its delicious Steak Tartare—both of these are in the densely-populated working class district of San Giacomo, near San Giusto Castle. Another good place is Stanlio e Ollio — a candle-lit restaurant offering up imaginative cuisine on the Viale XX Settembre, a 15-minute walk from the Piazza dell'Unità.
Still in the city center, you should try and pay a visit to San Marco — the large literary café (in Via Battista, parallel to Viale XX Settembre) which was frequented by the writer Claudio Magris and by both Svevo and Saba before him — as well as to Pirona — a small pastry shop on Largo Barriera Vecchia. It is one of the oldest of its kind in Italy and was visited for breakfast by James Joyce every morning between 1910 and 1914. Today it sells a wonderful selection of cream pastries and other delightful Central European sweets such as presnitz (a pastry made from nuts and dried fruit, in the shape of Christ’s crown of thorns), putizza (a puff pastry with honey), fave (almond balls with rose oil and cocoa), crostoli, fritole and fritters with pine kernels which are typically made during Carnevale.
We can now turn inland towards the upland plains of the Carso, only a 15-minute drive from the city. It is here that the majority of Italy's Slovenian community lives. Besides being able to enjoy magnificent views and go on memorable walks, you will be able to visit family-run farm shops and osmizze, where farmers can (in accordance what was originally an Imperial decree) sell their own produce, usually in spring and summer.
In many of the small villages around Trieste such as Monrupino, San Dorligo, Basovizza and the charming Muggia (which stands suspended between land and sea in the east of the province), you will be able to try cheeses such as Tabor, homemade salami, gnocchi and various meats as well as a selection of regional wines such as Malvasia, Vitovska Garganja and Terrano.
Buon appetito!
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