by Ashley Caneva
All photographs courtesy of Ashley Caneva
The summit of San Giusto Hill is one of my favorite spots in Trieste because you can take in so many facets of the city’s beauty and history all at once. I wrote a few months ago about the new discoveries being unearthed near the cathedral, which led me to wonder what else could possibly still be in the ground, waiting for its day in the sun once again.
As it turns out, quite a bit! Archeologists conducting a survey alongside new modernization work by AcegasAspAmga have recently found what is being called Trieste’s most important archeological discovery in decades! For the very first time, we have physical evidence of civilization on San Giusto Hill that predates the Roman “Tergeste.”
These remains indicate a hut-like structure with a hearth for cooking from the Late Bronze Age or Iron Age. It’s easy to imagine the beauty this location would have once held for its former inhabitants, when it rested even closer to the sea than it does today. Ceramic samples from this structure are currently in the process of being studied and more accurately dated. Black char and a layer of ash are still visible beneath a subsequent foundation – potentially for a Roman public building of some sort.
A stone column still stands as a fragment of this structure, which was later built upon in yet another historical layer probably dating to the Late Roman period – marked by the pragmatic recycling of monumental fragments. If you visit the site, you may also notice a visible disruption in the stratification which indicates a hole having been dug and even pieces of Pompeian-style tiles peeking out from the soil.
Many of us who have chosen to call Trieste home are drawn to the tapestry of histories and cultures that make the city so unique. Now a new (or should I say “ancient”) chapter of that story is beginning to be told… and so the plot thickens…
