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.