by Guisela Chiarella
It’s the beginning of May in Trieste, and the Adriatic sun is blazing like it’s July. Temperatures this week are climbing into the mid-70s Fahrenheit (around 25°C), sending tourists and American expats out in sandals and T-shirts. Yet many locals, undeterred by the warmth, remain zipped up in lightweight puffers, scarves wrapped dutifully around their necks, as if clinging to a season that no longer exists.
“It’s just not summer yet,” said Luisa, a retired schoolteacher wearing a wool-blend coat outside her neighborhood café. “You can’t trust this kind of heat. It tricks you.”
In our northeastern Italian port city where the Bora winds blow fiercely for much of the year, dressing for the calendar rather than the thermometer is more than a fashion statement — it’s cultural code.
“Italians dress for the season, not the weather,” said stylist Giorgia Tasso. “April still belongs to spring. And spring is transitional — not beachwear.”
Indeed, a stroll along Trieste’s Barcola waterfront this week revealed a peculiar sartorial split: bare-legged teenagers licking gelato beside buttoned-up nonnas; tourists sunbathing while locals in fleece watched from shaded benches.
This divergence has long puzzled newcomers. “I was sweating in shorts, and this guy next to me on the tram had a trench coat and gloves,” said Mark Rosenfeld, a visiting professor from New York. “It felt like we were on different planets.”
There’s also the matter of health. Many Italians swear by the idea that sudden exposure to warm weather invites illness. Catching a chill — or worse, the dreaded colpo d’aria (a “hit of air”) — is treated with the same caution as a real flu season.
“In Italy, we don’t just dress for how it feels,” said Dr. Paola Ceschia, a Triestine general practitioner. “We dress to protect the body from changes. And those changes — even in April — are dangerous.”
Still, as climate change blurs seasonal boundaries, even the most style-conscious Italians may face a dilemma. How long can tradition outlast thermometers climbing earlier every year?
Not very long, if you ask the city’s fashion-forward youth. On TikTok, local teens have been poking fun at their jacket-clad elders with hashtags like #PrimaveraCalda (“warm spring”) and #NonnaStyle.
But as of this week, the layers remain. The sunshine may scream summer, but Trieste — chic, cautious, and seasonally loyal — isn’t ready to listen.
