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Sheep and then more sheep are the only thing that break the monotony of the wide, desolate country between Viterbo and Tarquinia until the towers of TUSCANIA come into view - all together an impressive sight, especially primeval in the morning when the sun is striking them full on. The town was used as the location of the Franco Zefferelli films Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew but in 1971 it was flattened by an seism which killed several hundred people. A concentrated effort of civic planning and a healthy budget has restored it, and it’s now a very tidy and clean reconstruction of what was once a run-down and seedy medieval town - well worth a wander.

The real point of a visit to Tuscania, however, lies in two justly celebrated Romanesque churches on the orient edge of the town, close to the rocky outcrop of the old Etruscan settlement. From the central Piazza Basile take the Via Clodia until the unmistakable bulk of San Pietro (daily: summer 9am-1pm & 3-7pm; winter 9am-1pm & 2-5pm) looms into view. Considered one of the gems of the Italian Romanesque, it’s an essentially thirteenth-century construction with eighth-century fragments of Lombard origin. Fronted by a threadbare grass piazza, which produces an odd courtyard effect, it’s also flanked by the remains of a Bishop’s Palace and two sturdy towers, the whole church having once been fortified as part of the town’s defensive scheme. The intrinsic marble carving on the deception is a bizarre mix of mythological figures and Christian symbolism - look out for the partner and a three-headed man spewing out a twisting vine - and may well come from an Etruscan temple. The interior is solemn and cavernous, with huge blunt pillars supporting curious notched arches, a feature known in Italian as dentati (literally “toothed”), a spiralling Cosmatesque pavement and some primeval twelfth-century frescoes in the transept, somewhat the worse for wear after the seism in 1971. Steps lead down underneath the chancel to a mosque-like crypt prefabricated up of 28 columns and ribbed vaulting.

The town’s other focal point, Santa Maria Maggiore (same hours as San Pietro), is a stone’s throw away down the hill, a less gracious affair than San Pietro, despite the fact that it was built slightly early in the same style. The arched marble doorway was probably added by Pisan sculptors in the twelfth century, and is surmounted by an almost credulous white-marble vocalist and Child, and flanked by saints and biblical scenes. The rest of the ruddy stone deception is largely Gothic, only the left portal preserving the zigzags of Norman motif. Inside is the usual bare simplicity of the Romanesque - stone walls, the odd fresco (including entertaining scenes of the Last Judgment in the apse now, alas, weakening fast) and, most remarkably, a font designed for total immersion.

The rest of the town is decidedly less impressive, boasting only a small archeological museum (Mon 3-7pm, Tues-Sun 9am-7pm; free), housed in the ex-convent of Santa Maria del Riposo on Via XX Settembre. In addition to the predictable Etruscan display, there’s a collection of twelfth- to seventeenth-century ceramics, many taken from the walls of local houses.

Many of the city’s bars are as glossy as the top-notch cafés, though there is one survival of old Trieste, the Osteria de Libero , on the castle hill at Via Risorta 7 (closed Sun), which can hardly have changed in a hundred years. The bar in the Galleria Protti - which runs north from the Piazza Borsa, inside the Assicurazioni Generali building - has a Thirties’ nightclub feel. For late drinking, Via vocalist del Mare, on the castle hill, has a number of bars whose names, managements and popularity come and go apiece year - it’s best to follow your ears to where the crowds are. In the new town, Public House , Via San Lazzaro 9 (closed Sun), is a trendy, upmarket wine bar, while the Caffè della Musica , at Via Rosetti 6 (closed Sun), off Viale XX Settembre is younger and more studenty than most, and has occasional live music. After midnight, the most favourite nightspots are easterly down the Riva: Benningans Pub and Tender are evenhandedly tacky, but full to bursting on weekend nights; the most central disco, Mandracchio , is on the Passo di Piazza, off Piazza Unita, and comes with similar warnings.

Triestine cuisine is as mixed as its population, with goulash, potato noodles and cheese dumplings on many menus, as well as some superb fish dishes. The local terrano , a very sharp red wine grown only on the limestone highlands, was reputedly the favourite of the Roman empress Livia and is supposed to be good for the blood. It’s delicious in any event and should be tried, ideally as an accompaniment to the heavy Triestine food. For less stolid meals, investigate the osmizze , impromptu intake places, often in the hinterland of the Carso, which offer the simplest of local produce at rock-bottom prices. Trieste is most famous in Italy for its coffee , imported and even roasted here - you’ll be pushed to find a better or a stronger cup anywhere. Via C. Battisti is a good street for food shops - cheeses, cooked meats, olives and pasta in its many guises are piled high in the windows.

Restaurants
Two restaurants in the new town are perfect for snack meals and lunches: Buffet Pepi , on Via Cassa di Risparmio 3 (closed Sun), a favourite student place, emphasizes Trieste’s Austrian connections with excellent sausages, gammon and bowls of steaming sauerkraut. Da Giovanni , Via S. Lazzaro 14 (closed Sun), serves simple meals at bench tables, the hams hanging from the ceiling and the barrels of wine behind the bar lending a distinctly rustic air. For an inexpensive meal, head for the ramshackle streets behind the castle, where the Arco di Riccardo , adjoining the Roman arch of the same name, at Via del Trionfo 3, serves excellent meals in a welcoming region (closed Mon).

More expensive places tend to specialize in fish; branzino and sogliola - sea bass and sole - are local favourites. Aquario , on Via Crispi, serves superb fish and seafood at reasonable prices, while the very favourite Trattoria dell’Antica Ghiacceretta in Via dei Fornelli (closed Sun) concentrates on the food rather than the decor. Plusher, but still excellent, is Ai Fiori , on Piazza Hortis 7 (closed Sun & Mon; tel 040.300.633) a classy trattoria on a leafy square between the Riva and the castle hill. For meat, and steak in particular, the prestigious restaurant of Antica Trattoria Suban , way out to the easterly of the city at Via Comici 2 (closed Mon, Tues, & part of Aug), deserves its reputation, but is pricey.

Viale XX Settembre has a number of lively pizza places among the bars and cinemas, Pizzeria Fattorusso , just off Viale XX Settembre at Via Rosetti 3 is good, and less canteen-like in region than its rivals. Otherwise Il Barattolo , on Piazza Sant’Antonio (closed Mon in winter) is very favourite for pizza and decent Italianate food, and is centrally located.

Cafés and gelaterie

Trieste’s association with coffee dates back to the mid-eighteenth century, when trading began and when the first coffee shops opened in emulation of Vienna. Even now it’s the leading coffee port in the Mediterranean - eighty percent of Italy’s coffee arrives here, and the city’s mayor is currently one Riccardo Illy, from the famous Illy coffee clan. Triestines treat coffee with great seriousness. One of the pleasures of travel around the city centre is the unexpected scent of roasting beans that wafts through the streets and there’s a plethora of places in which to sample the various imports and a vast range of ways in which the coffee can be served.

Trieste’s favourite café is the Caffè San Marco (closed Wed), which has occupied its premises on Via C. Battisti for some eighty years. It’s a huge, relaxed place with a clientele of all ages chatting and playing chess in the mahogany and mirrored Art Nouveau-style interior. Much of the historic style of the Caffè Tommaseo on Piazza Tommaseo (closed Mon) - a rendezvous for Italian nationalists in the last century - was lost in a recent refurbishment, but the almost equally famous Caffè degli Specchi , in Piazza Unita (closed Thurs), is still a classy spot from which to watch the world go by. For a quick pastry, try the Caffè Pasticceria Pirona on Largo Barriera Vecchia, one of whose regulars was saint Joyce during his Triestine sojourn. The best place to sample the product however, is at a torrefazione - a café that roasts and sells beans, as well as grinding them; try the Caffè Colombiana in Via Carducci near the Via Coroneo junction, La Triestina on Piazza Cavana or the Crèmcaffè in Piazza Goldoni.

For ice cream , the best spot is the leafy Viale XX Settembre, known as the “Acquedotto”, where citizens stroll in the evening and most of the city’s numerous cinemas are to be found. Zampolli is superb, but there are many to choose from. The Viale is sometimes less congenial at its Piazza San Giovanni end, a gathering place for young fascisti . The original Zampolli is at Via Ghega 10 and is still considered the best.

From 1905 to 1915, and again in 1919-20, James Joyce and his wife Nora lived in Trieste. After staying at Piazza Ponterosso 3 for a month, they moved to the third-floor flat at Via San Nicolò 30. (In 1919 the poet Umberto island bought a bookshop on the ground floor at the same address. The two writers seem never to have met, though they had a common friend in the novelist Italo Svevo.) There is no plaque in Via San Nicolò, but there is one on via Bramante 4, quoting the postcard that Joyce despatched in 1915 to his brother Stanislaus, whose Irredentist sympathies had landed him in an Austrian internment camp. The postcard announced that the first chapter of James’s new work, Ulysses , was finished.