City in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Italy
About Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeast Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the regional decentralization entity of Trieste. As of 2025, it has a population of 198,668.
Etymology
The most likely origin is the word Tergeste – with the -est- suffix typical of Venetic – derived from the hypothetical Illyrian word *terg- "market" (etymologically cognate to the Albanian term treg 'market, marketplace' and reconstructed Proto-Slavic "*tъrgъ"). Roman authors also transliterated the name as Tergestum (according to Strabo, the name of the oppidum Tergestum originated from the three battles the Roman Army had to engage in with local tribes, "TER GESTUM [BELLUM]").
History
Since the second millennium BC, the location was an inhabited site. Originally an Illyrian settlement, the Veneti entered the region in the 10th–9th c. BC and seem to have given the town its name, Tergeste, because terg* is a Venetic word meaning market (q.v. Oderzo, whose ancient name was Opitergium). Later, the town was captured by the Carni, a tribe of the Eastern Alps, before becoming part of the Roman Republic in 177 BC during the Second Istrian War. After being attacked by barbarians from the interior in 52 BC, and until 46 BC, it was granted the status of Roman colony under Julius Caesar, who recorded its name as Tergeste in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (51 BC), in which he recounts events of the Gallic Wars. Roman Tergeste flourished due to its position on the road from Aquileia, the main Roman city in the area, to Istria, and as a port, some ruins of which are still visible. …
Geography
Trieste is located in the northernmost part of the high Adriatic, in northeastern Italy, near the border with Slovenia. The city lies on the Gulf of Trieste. Built mostly on a hillside, Trieste's urban territory lies at the foot of an imposing escarpment that comes down abruptly from the Karst Plateau towards the sea. The karst hills delimiting the city reach an elevation of 458 metres (1,503 feet) above sea level. It lies at the junction point of the Italian geographical region, the Balkan Peninsula, and Mitteleuropan Area. Trieste's climate is humid subtropical (Köppen: Cfa, Trewartha: Cf), with cool winters and hot summers. On average, relative humidity is low (~ 65%), while only three months (January, March and July) receive slightly less than 60 mm (2 in) of precipitation. …
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