History
Two thousand years before Christ, the territory of the province of Trieste was inhabited. There were very small villages, protected by stone walls, on the hills. The inhabitants were of Illyrian origin. Maybe the town was founded by Tergeste, a friend of the mythological hero Jason. He decided to stop here. Jason was searching for the Golden Fleece and came with the Argonauts at the mouth of Timavo River. In 50 b.C. the small village of fishermen became a Roman colony, called Tergeste. There are two hypotheses about the name Trieste: one says that the name comes from Teregestum, that is “built three times”. The other says that the name comes from the Indo-European root Terg (that is market) and the Venetian suffix Este, that is “town”. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the town was controlled by Byzantium until 788; then it passed to Franks. The Bishop Giovanni bought the town from Lotario, the Frank king. Trieste thus started a quieter period of its history. Trieste became a free municipality in 1300. In 1382 the town was menaced by Venice and it chose to ask for the protection of the Emperor of Austria, Leopold III. This was the beginning of a long relationship between Trieste and Austria. In XVI there was a short Spanish domination, then some plagues and famines hit the town. Trieste became a modern town in 1719 when Charles VI gave to the town the freedom of navigation. The commerce developed fast. This development increased during the reign of Mary Therese and Joseph II. Since then Trieste has been a cosmopolitan town, as the names of the streets, the surnames of the inhabitants and the presence of different religions testify.
In 1867 Trieste became the capital of the Adriatic region of the Empire, called “Küstenland”. Trieste was together with Trento the centre of irredentism, a movement that wanted Trieste to be part of Italy, like all the regions in which people had an Italian culture. Trieste returned to Italy in 1918 but it was only a port and a town among many others, it didn’t have a central role.
In this area there was the creation of the so-called “Fascismo di frontiera” (fascism of the frontier).
During the Second World War Italy lost many Istrian lands that passed to Yugoslavia. After the armistice (8th September 1943), Trieste was the stage of many tragic episodes. Risiera di San Sabba factory, once used to husk rice, was used by Nazis as a prison and has the posting point of prisoners towards the German and Polish camps. Here Nazis stored food, arms, and killed many dissidents, partisans, Hebrews. On 4th April 1944 there was the start of the crematorium. In 1965 this factory was proclaimed a national monument. It was the only concentration camp in Italy and in Southern Europe having a crematorium. The first dispatch rider of Partisans came from Trieste. She was deported to Auschwitz with no. 81672. On 30th April 1945 there was the arrangement of the CLN of Trieste. German troops resisted until the 2nd of May and they had to surrender to soldiers coming from New Zealand. The Yugoslavian army led by Marshal Tito controlled Trieste until 12th June (the forty days of Trieste). Many people were executed in the infamous dolines on Carso mountains. Then the allied troops took the control of the town.
Trieste received the Gold Medal for Military Value thanks to the many sacrifices of its population and the commitment in the Partisan movement. Yugoslavia wanted to control Trieste and allied forces wanted the town, too. This is why in 1947 the town was proclaimed “a free territory”. The area was divided in two parts: a part called A controlled by allied forces and a part called B, controlled by Yugoslavians. This situation ended on 26th October 1954 when these parts were given to Italy (A) and to Yugoslavia (B, with other territories). This division became definitive in 1975 with the Treaty of Osimo between Italy and Yugoslavia.
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Written by Stefania Maffeo
Translation by Linda Liguori |
