Trieste has a geographic position that obliges it to be a protagonist in history: an outlet on the Balkans in Roman times, an access to the Mediterranean, and forever a frontier town and a crossroads for trade and culture, recognised by the fact that the city was given the name of Tergeste, a market (terg) town (este).
Trieste was first a Roman colony; then a flourishing commercial port and outlet onto the sea for the Austro-Hungarian empire; subsequently a tormented land claimed by Yugoslavia and Nazi Germany; and finally, for just over 50 years now, an Italian town.
Trieste’ history is one of domination and alternating fortune, from the splendours of the Habsburg period to the darkness of the German and Slav occupations after the Second World War, from the mercantile and cultural fervour of the 18th and 19th centuries to the horrors of the racist persecutions, San Sabba and the “Foibe".

Main historical dates
177 B.C. The Romans defeated the Histri lead by King Epulo who, after the event, killed himself with his men.
49 B.C. Under Julius Cesar, Trieste became a Roman colony, with the name of Tergeste.
32 B.C. Ottavian built the walls around Tergeste, which thus became a Roman municipium.
3rd Century A.C. Christianity spread from Aquileia to Trieste.
476 A.C. After the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, Trieste became a Byzantine military colony and frontier post.
788 A.C. After brief periods of occupation by the Goths and Lombards, The Byzantines lost Trieste, which passed over under the dominion of the Franks.
948 A.C. Lotario II, King of Italy, conferred power over the town to the bishop; the bishops ruled for three centuries.
1139 The first nucleus of the medieval town was created.
1202 Trieste was forced to accept a treaty of fidelity with nearby Venice, its antagonist in the fight to master the sea.
1382 The city passed under the Habsburgs: municipal autonomy was maintained, but the act of annexation led to five centuries of domination.
1508 Venice attacked and destroyed Trieste, its small but annoying rival for the control of the sea.
1719 Emperor Charles VI declared Trieste a free port. His daughter, Maria Theresa, had an enormous impact on the development of this commercial port through her reforms and enlightened management.
1797-1813 Trieste was occupied three times by the French: in 1797, after the treaty of Campo Formio, which marked the end of the Venetian Republic; in 1805-6; in 1809-13 when the town, together with Ljubljana, became the capital of the Illyrian Province of the Napoleonic era.
1814 The town returned under Austrian rule and enjoyed a second period of prosperity: insurance companies, Lloyd, banks and commercial enterprises were founded in this period and the Trieste-Vienna railway was built.
1896 A mere 6 months after being invented, the first cinema was opened in Trieste.

The mid-19th century renaissance of Trieste was also cultural and political: the new ideas of liberty and national unity spread and the irredentist movement was born, whose prime representative was Guglielmo Oberdan, condemned to death in 1882 for having attempted to assassinate the Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria during a visit to Trieste. Italian patriotism was so strong that at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 many irredentists fought as volunteers alongside the Italian soldiers.

The 20th century
1918 At the end of the First World War, the Italian ship Audace berthed in the port of Trieste and the town became Italian for the first time. The disappearance of the Austrian Empire was, however, a severe blow to the local economy. The racial laws hit the Slovenes living on the Carso and in Istria first, and then the Jews.
At the end of the Second World War, Trieste was occupied by the German troops and annexed to the Reich. At the same time, Yugoslavia made a claim on the territory and in 1945 the town was invaded by Tito’s troops for 40 days. During this period, the lager in the Risiera di San Sabba was active and the hasty executions in the foibe took place. Trieste was finally freed by the Americans and the Treaty of Paris (1947) split the territory into two zones: zone A, from Duino to Trieste, administered by the Anglo-Americans, and zone B, south of the town, administered by Yugoslavia. The loss of much land in Istria led to the great exodus from Istria to Trieste. The Memorandum of London in 1954 returned Trieste to Italy and under the Osimo Treaty (1975) Italy definitively renounced its claim on Istria.