Grandiose buildings, coffeehouse culture and a central square big enough to parade a small army in … there’s a reason this city at the end of the Adriatic is called “little Vienna by the sea”. Since the 14th century, when it asked the House of Habsburg for protection from the covetous reach of Venice, Trieste has spent more time as an Austrian city than as an Italian one.

The imposing facades were built during its heyday as a major seaport of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and even today the mittel-Europeans who come here on holiday can’t help but feel at home.