Saint Anthon and the Canal Grande, Trieste

The Canale Grande will probably be your first introduction to Trieste, after the bus and train stations. While it doesn't even try to compete with Venice's canals, it is an impressive sight, filled with tiny boats, and surrounded by outdoor cafes, churches, fountains and old palaces. Just a shame about that crane!

On easter Sunday morning, the place was deathly quiet...hardly a soul in sight, until the church bells began to ring, and churchgoers flooded into the waterside cafes. If this was anywhere else but Trieste, I'm sure it would be thronging with tourists, but on that morning, it was just me, a couple of fishermen, some dog walkers, and local coffee-drinkers.

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Here are shown the paintings of the high altar and of some of the lateral altars. I like them very much and I was a little amazed when I saw them in their brightness, since I remember that in the tip about Sant'Antonio Nuovo I created some months ago, I had written that "the inside is rather bare". Well, no, it isn't bare, it is just neoclassic. The neoclassic style is the style of beauty meant as harmony and balance (ancient Greek concepts), therefore neoclassic churches haven't got so many windows as the Gothic nor so many sculptures as the baroque ones.

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The inside of Sant'Antonio Nuovo has a beautiful architecture, full of arches and domes, as you can see here. I enjoyed to photograph all these harmonious, typically neoclassic curves. The first and the last pictures were originally two or three photos that I have stitched, so that one sees the abse and the nave in their whole height.

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Sant'Antonio Nuovo ("Saint Anthon new") is the largest church of Trieste. It is dedicated to Saint Anthon Thaumaturge and was built according to a project by Pietro Nobile in 1825-49 on the same place where already existed a church with that name, therefore it's called "nuovo".
It is built in neoclassic style, with a Ionic pronaos, a large pediment and, at the top, six statues portraying the protectors of the city.

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Palazzo Gopcevich is the most important civil building on the Canal Grande. It was built by Giovanni Berlam in 1850 and bears the name of its first owner, who was a dealer of Serb origin. He wanted to commemorate with statues the heroes who led to the independence of Srbija from the Ottoman empire.
The second building in these photos is the "red skyscraper". I don't know if it is only famous for its colour or also for some other reason. And last, you see a large building hosting a bank and a shop. I don't know anything about it but I liked it.

This photo was taken at the end of Canal Grande...This area is also known as Borgo Teresiano.
It is told that this area was planned by Austrian urban plannersin the 18th century for Empress Maria Theresa.
There are many classic buildings around Trieste, maybe from the Habsburg era. I had a pleasant walk while waiting for my friend from Slovenia, Ivan to get me in Trieste...

This picture epitomises Trieste for me. It shows a splendid church, water and palatial buildings. Pretty much what the town is all about.
The church happens to be the brainchild of Nobile, though his 1808 design wasn't finished until 1842. Sant' Antonio Nuovo is its name and, once upon a time, it used to have a Grand Canal frontage, long since filled in but at least there's still a fountain.
The fresco in the apse, altar pieces and paintings by local artists are worth a look if you get inside past the statues by Bosca.

Motorbikes are very popular in Trieste. Neverthe less, traffic in Trieste is very busy and Trieste is a Medetirranean port town. And by motorbike is much easier to reach the destined place.

The Canal Grande is an impressive sight of Trieste. Everybdy knows where it is. On both sides of the Canal, there are old palaces, shops, outdoors caffees, churches.

Piazza S. Antonio is at the end of the Canale Grande, and contains the Church of San Antonio Nuovo with a little fountain in front. It was built in the 19th century