Castello di San Giusto

Castello di San Giusto is a castle in Trieste, located on the hill of the same name, a few meters away from the Cathedral of San Giusto.

SHORT HISTORY

After the sack of the city by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III in 1469, remembered as the Destruction of Trieste, after the massacres, looting and plague that followed, the people of Trieste were punished to build a fortress at their own expense.

The castle was built on the Capitoline Hill, on the ruins of a Venetian castle. It was a two-story building with an adjacent tower.

In the early 16th century, when the city temporarily came under the domination of the Republic of Venice, the fortress was extended with a semicircular bastion. After the return of the Empire, the works continued, but without haste.

First, between 1551 and 1561, the southeast bastion was built, called Lalio after its designer, Domenico de Lalio. The northern part, already planned by the Venetians, was completed in 1595, and the last bastion, called Pomis, after the imperial architect Giovanni Pietro de Pomis, was finished in 1630.

In 1930, the Italian authorities identified the tourist opportunity of the site. The fortress was restored, became a castle, and acquired its present appearance.

The San Giusto Castle was restored in the 2000s and used as a civic museum by the Municipality of Trieste, to which the structure belonged since 1930. On the Lalio bastion, the Tergestino Lapidarium was inaugurated on April 4th, 2001, consisting of inscriptions, sculptures, bas-reliefs and fragments of Roman architecture.

ARCHTECTURE

You enter the fortress by passing a drawbridge of small proportions, which was not the original medieval entrance, still visible on the left. After the entrance, there is the coats of arms of the patrician families of the city, among some military banners.

On the left, there is a corridor that leads to the old shooting positions, while the right corridor leads to the weapons museum and the guardhouse.

A staircase leads to the panoramic terrace, from where you pass into the huge courtyard, designed as a parade ground, and now home to many cultural events. From the edge of the courtyard, you can go up to the stands from where you can enjoy a spectacular view of those parts of the city that could not be seen from the terrace.

HOW TO GET THERE

The Castle of San Giusto is located about 1.5 kilometers from the Trieste Centrale railway station. The closest bus stop is located in Via Giuseppe Rota 7, about 100 meters away, on the bus Line 24.