Trieste is the sort of place travel guides and writers recommend only after they’ve exhausted the possibilities of better-known destinations. Run out of things to say about Lake Como, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast? Trieste is there, lurking in the background, offering just enough intrigue and history to make it worth visiting, or at least writing about. It is the back alley of Italy. Rome, Florence, Venice, and other marquee destinations are the grand piazzas, monuments, and promenades. A glimpse at a map suggests that Trieste, tightly ringed by Slovenian territory and sitting at the northeast corner of the Adriatic, more properly belongs to the Balkans. 

This is not to say that Trieste is ugly or dangerous. There are charming neighborhoods and picturesque vistas and imposing statues. But the real satisfaction in visiting is derived from the knowledge that you’re traveling off the beaten path. Few European cities embody the dog days of summer like Trieste. The heat hangs over the city’s sedate harbor, once a bustling commercial port, and the Piazza Unità d’Italia, a vast marble expanse bereft of shade. Here, you can sit at bars and cafes to rival any in Europe for good time-wasting, sipping a Birra Dolomiti, a beer brewed nearby and named for the mountains that tower to the north. Cruise ships have recently returned, but that’s only because they were banned from nearby Venice, where locals are fed up with over-tourism.