Illustration: Olha Polonska
The most Mitteleuropean city of Italy is ready for the festivities and there’s something for everyone this season in Trieste. In December the city is full of magic, dressed up in colors and lights. While walking around Trieste, the music will sweep you off your feet, with various bands playing around town, from jazz to classical music.
Trieste’s popular Christmas market returns to Piazza Borsa and Piazza St Antonio this Christmas, running from 8 December until 6 January 2023. The event, a traditional fixture on Trieste’s Christmas calendar, is loved by locals and tourists alike. The tradition of Christmas markets is centuries- old, dating back to the Middle Ages. A document written in Dresden, Germany in 1434 speaks of the first winter fairs for small artisans. Since then, the markets spread throughout Northern Europe and can be found in every corner of the world, including Trieste.
Trieste’s Christmas market is worth the trip. While last year they were put on hold due to the pandemic, this year markets across Italy have restarted in full safety (some even with a Green Pass requirement, for example in South Tyrol) and with new inviting features. The stalls will sell toys, Christmas decorations, sweets, books, food from the Friuli Venezia-Giulia region, leather goods and other gift items.
New Year’s Eve in Trieste will be a sight to see – live concerts, fireworks and much fun guaranteed to welcome 2023 with nothing but fun and joy.
Visiting Trieste means tasting all the good stuff the city has to offer: from presnits, a typical Triestine dessert, to various buffet delicacies- this city will not leave you hungry.
While in Trieste, seize the opportunity and visit the grand Macchiaioli exhibit at Museo Revoltella, an exhibition that, through a corpus of over 80 works, presents some masterpieces of nineteenth-century Italian art from the stain to naturalism, including famous paintings and lesser-known works never exhibited before, largely from the most prestigious European private collections.
Another exhibition not to be missed while in Trieste is “Banksy: The Great Communicator”. This exhibition at the Salone Degli Incanti in Trieste will remain open until April 10th 2023.
It is a new exhibition dedicated to Banksy, the English street artist famous for his artworks and for having protected his identity so effectively that he/ she remains unknown.
“Banksy: The Great Communicator” exhibit offers about 60 works by the famous street artist from private collections. The artworks are dedicated to war, wealth and poverty, animals, globalization, consumerism, politics, power, ecology. All of them are communicating Banksy’s original and non-conformist language addressed to the public in a direct and impactful way.
Trieste is magical in every season, but there’s something about our city during Christmas time that might just make you think about moving here yourselves. Give it a try!
