Carnic and Illyric settlers inhabited the area in primitive times, and the Roman emperor Augustus had a circle of walls built around the city in 33 B.C. Roman remains are still visible. The Goths (483-539) and the Longobards (752-774) controlled the city for brief periods. Walls remain from a Venetian fortress begun in 1368. The city is capped by a castle started by Hapsburg emperor Frederick III. Maria Theresa proclaimed the city a free port in 1719, establishing it as a major commercial center.
One of the city's most impressive attractions is Miramare, a storybook castle built by Hapsburg Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph who moved to Trieste in 1854 to assume command as Rear-Admiral of the Austrian navy in the Adriatic. He transfered to Milan in 1857 as Governor General of the Lombard-Venecian Kingdom, but he was forced to return to Trieste two years later. It was then that he and his wife, Charlotte, moved into the white castle overlooking the Adriatic. With the support of Charlotte, European leaders tricked Maximilian into accepting the position of Emperor of Mexico in 1863. He was executed by the Mexican people in 1867.
It was in Trieste that the Irish writer James Joyce found inspritation for his Ulysses. Trieste was ruled by the Allied Military Government as a Free Territory following World War II.
links to other sites:Trieste @ Department of Theoretical Physics / University of Trieste (It's much more interesting than the name might indicate.)