San Giusto Castle

Season of weapons

Now in its third edition, The Seasons of Arms is a cycle of historical-educational animations designed to integrate with the museum tour outside and inside San Giusto Castle. Commissioned by the emperors of Austria in the 15th century as a military garrison above the Capitoline Hill, the San Giusto Castle underwent various moments of development and architectural evolution: enlarged with a high semicircular wall by the Republic of Venice in the early 16th century, it was then fortified by the Habsburgs between 1551 and 1636 with various bastions that still exist today and can be visited in part. And it is precisely by recalling the four most representative moments in the castle's history that visitors will be invited, week by week, to relive the splendour of 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th century Trieste as a free city. 

The Melon of Trieste

The Melon is a sandstone acroterion, a carved decorative element in the round placed on the apex of the roof of a building. In this case, it is modelled in twelve segment-like ribs, to which the popular identification with the fruit is due. Standing 1.13 metres high, it has a maximum circumference of 2.15. It is crowned by a faithful copy of the halberd of St. Sergius, the original of which is kept in the Cathedral Treasury. It is said that in April 1421, lightning struck the bell tower of Trieste Cathedral. The spire was severely damaged, so it was decided to demolish it. On 10 May 1422, the Melon was removed and the tall spire replaced with a tiled roof, corresponding to its present form. The Melon was then placed on the low wall delimiting the Cathedral square on the side of the street of the same name, directly opposite the bell tower.

Third walkway

In the third walkway, mainly firearms are exhibited, documenting the evolution that these types of weaponry reached in the 18th-19th centuries: from flintlocks to percussion pistols; from muzzle-loading stone pistols - often with barrels and plates finely decorated with engravings and inlays, and sometimes gilded - to the now modern small drum pistols, examples of muzzle-loading weapons.

Caprin Hall

The room was created during restoration work in the 1930s by joining the two original floors that belonged to the 16th-century extension of the Casa del Capitano. The intervention, which included the opening of four large arched windows, was carried out to faithfully recreate the sumptuous Sala Veneta by Giuseppe Caprin, whose furnishings had been purchased by the Municipality in 1933.

Willkommen!

Milites courtyard

On the right side of the courtyard is the entrance to the Lapidarium Tergestino, located in the so-called 'basement' of the Lalio Bastion. On display are 130 stone exhibits pertaining to Roman Tergeste. In the same spot is also the Bottega del Vino (Wine Shop), whose entrance is flanked by a large inscription, unfortunately much abraded, bearing the 'pertica' of Trieste - a unit of linear measurement - dated 1707 and once walled in on the Riborgo town gate (demolished in 1784). Adjacent to them is the deep cistern-well - with its wide sandstone shaft - that supplied water to the Castle, surrounded by 17th-18th-century plaques relating to the Harbour Tower and the City Palace, which once stood in Piazza Grande (today's Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia).

15th-Century hall

This is a 15th-century Hall, which has retained its original structure, with its late Gothic ribbed vaulting, filled in places with a gilded star decoration on a blue background, unfortunately rather dilapidated, and its original terracotta floor. The opening that illuminates this room is now, following restoration in the 1930s, a small terrace. Originally, however, the arch was intended to give access to a protruding masonry apparatus, resting on the four stone corbels or corbels that still exist today, used for lead defence on the lower floor. The residential use of these rooms is evidenced by the presence of a square niche in one of the walls, serving as a small wardrobe or storage room for objects. The Renaissance wooden decoration framing the fireplace and the elegant majolica tiles covering the walls come from the Sala Veneta of the Caprin house.

Giuseppe Caprin

Giuseppe Caprin (Trieste 1843-1904), a distinguished journalist, historian and publisher, was one of the most prominent personalities in Trieste culture of the second half of the 19th century. An irredentist patriot, he published humorous newspapers such as 'Il Pulcinella' and 'L'Arlecchino' against Austrian rule in Trieste, and participated as a Garibaldian in the Battle of Bezzecca (1866). In order to educate the Italian people of Venezia Giulia and Friuli in national consciousness, he published the weekly 'Libertà e Lavoro' between 1867 and 1884. He also directed the irredentist newspaper 'L'Indipendente', which he took over in 1878, until 1886. In 1868, he founded the Stabilimento Artistico Tipografico with Bartolomeo Appolonio, which became one of the largest in the Giulia region. In 1878, three years after becoming its sole owner, he moved its headquarters to his new home in the district of San Giacomo. More information on [Wikipedia](https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Caprin)

Ascent to the bastion

Allied bombing raids on Trieste

Vestibule - Entrance

On the walls of the vestibule, several ancient tombstones were placed during the restorations in the 1930s, partly related to the history of the Castle and partly from Trieste (from the demolished houses in the Old Town area) and Istria.

MICHEZ e JACHEZ

In fondo al vestibolo, dal 2007, si viene accolti da due statue di zinco fuso raffiguranti due paggi, due automi che si trovavano sulla torre del nuovo palazzo municipale di Trieste, progetto dell'architetto Bruni. Gli automi, disposti ai lati di una campana, sopra l'orologio comunale, grazie a braccia articolate regolate da un meccanismo ad orologeria, sollevavano un martello che batteva le ore. Ideati dal Bruni, gli automi vennero realizzati nel giugno 1875 dallo scultore Fausto Asteo (1840 – 1901) presso le fonderie dei fratelli de Poli di Ceneda e collocati sulla torre nei giorni 5 e 7 gennaio 1876. Entrarono in funzione il 14 gennaio alle ore 12. I triestini li soprannominarono Michez e Jachez (o Mikez e Jakez) (Michele e Giacomo), due famosi giudici della città. A seguito dei danni arrecati dagli agenti atmosferici e dalle sollecitazioni del meccanismo, vennero sostituiti il 3 novembre 1972, assieme alla campana, da copie realizzate in bronzo.

Chapel of St.George

On the ground floor is the 15th-century Chapel dedicated to St George. This space is part of the Captain's House, built by Frederick III of Habsburg between 1468 and 1471. Traditionally identified with the Chapel, recent studies suggest its original use as a passageway, an entrance to the Castle only later used for religious functions.

First walkway

In the first walkway, the exhibition opens with a 12th century sword, flanked by three 14th century daggers of the 'baselarda' type. Opposite are weapons on auction dating from the 14th to the 16th century: halberds - from Switzerland, Germany and the Veneto -, bat-winged corses, partisans and roncones. Interesting among the long bladed weapons - also of Italian or northern European production from the 14th century onwards - are a Venetian schiavonesque sword from the end of the 15th century and a German 'one-and-a-half-handed' broadsword with flame blade from the 16th century.

Guida IA - Chinese

Ascent to the armoury

The collection of weapons of the Civic Museums of History and Art was formed around a nucleus of ancient war weapons and halberds of the city, but it took on a considerable size at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century through gifts from private collectors and purchases on the antiques market.

Exhibition hall

A large introductory room narrates the history of the site and the urban development of Trieste with the help of old views, period photographs and a model from the early 20th century, depicting the city before the 18th-19th century expansion.

Second walkway

The second, larger walkway houses weapons from the 16th to 17th century. It begins with a series of swords from the 16th-17th centuries with cage hilt, in front of which are Venetian scythes made in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In the first showcase, some hunting crossbows of German or Swiss manufacture from the early 17th century stand out for their refined execution. Along the staircase coming from the Caprin Room is a series of representative halberds from the 16th century, made in northern Italy or more specifically in Venice. This is followed by 17th century Venetian schiavone swords with their characteristic cage hilt, a series of spadini, storte, short swords for infantrymen, 'alla vallona', 'da guanciale' and finally the characteristic strips with cup hilt, all attributable to the 17th century and made in Italy, Germany and Spain. On display in the second showcase is the splendid walnut powder flask inlaid with ivory engraved with the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, from the Sadeler workshop, engravers in Munich in the 17th century.

Welcome!

Le Tredici Casade di Trieste

Il XIII secolo per Trieste fu quello che vide la nascita il 2 febbraio 1246 della "Vetustae Nobilitatis Tergestina Congregatio" ossia la Confraternita Nobiliare di San Francesco detta anche delle Tredici Casade, fondata presso il Convento dei Padri minoriti (situato nell'attuale Piazza Hortis) da tredici famiglie illustri di origine mercantile, che si ritenevano di discendere dal "Gran Sangue Romano".   [Approfondimenti](http://www.13casade.com/dati/le-casade)

The grand staircase

The grand staircase is the result of the extensive restoration work of 1935-1936, aimed at transforming the Castle into a museum. On this occasion, this monumental staircase with a double helicoidal stone ramp was created in the space in front of the Chapel, after the division between the floors had been eliminated. Along the walls is a theory of pole-arms (such as halberds, partisans and corsairs) from the 16th and 17th centuries, concluded - at the height of the landing where the two flights come together - by a panoply consisting of a breastplate surmounted by a pointed morion, both from the mid-16th century, flanked by pole-arms from the end of the same century, arranged in a sunburst pattern.

The Caprin anteroom

At the top of the stairs is the so-called Caprin antechamber, furnished with 17th-century chests.On display is a valuable late Renaissance carved and gilded wooden lantern, of Venetian or provincial Venetian manufacture, from a galley that participated in the famous Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571, which saw the victory of the Holy League over the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. The galley was captained by the Capodistrian nobleman Giovanni Domenico del Tacco, who brought it back to the Istrian city, where in 1888-1889 it was purchased by the Triestine collector Giuseppe Caprin and was included in the furnishings of the sumptuous Venetian Hall of his palace.

Entrance

From the drawbridge of the Castle, it is possible to see at a glance the cathedral and the remains of the Roman civil basilica, which occupy the top of the San Giusto hill, and to observe the façade towards the city of the Casa del Capitano, set into the rock and opened by five tall windows closed by gratings. Past the drawbridge, through the portal opened between 1590 and 1595, one finds oneself in the large entrance vestibule, vaulted with a cross vault, built in the mid-16th century together with the Lalio Bastion. The two original entrance arches can be seen on the left, while the pointed arch opening on the right opens at the base of the 15th-century Captain's House. The L-shaped Frederick's tower, surrounded by the Round Bastion, dominates the end of the vestibule.

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