James joyce cafe

Caffè e Locali storici a Trieste.

The first Coffee shops were opened in Trieste during the second half of the eighteenth century, probably following the example of many fashionable places in Venice, but they immediately took on an unmistakable Viennese connotation in their interior decorations and in the services they offered. In 1768 in contrada Bottari, now via San Nicolo', Benedetto Capano was granted the exclusive sale of hot and cold waters, tea, coffee, chocolate, lemonades, sherbets and syrup water. From then on the Coffee Shops multiplied in number in Trieste which had in the meantime become a Middle European emporium. As time went by, the cosmopolitan spirit of the city proposed very differing characteristics, with distinctly political cafe', cafe's for Austrian officers and top executives, the bourgeoisie cafe', the businessmen's cafe', and increasingly numerous were the literary cafe', where James Joyce, Italo Svevo, Umberto Saba used to go.

The Caffè degli Specchi, was opened in 1839, founded and managed by the Grecian Nicolo' Priovolo. The cafe' was first on the ground floor of Palazzo Stratti, in that same Piazza Grande (which became Piazza dell'Unita' d'Italia in 1918) that continues to represent the heart of the city. Thanks to this special position, the Caffe' degli Specchi immediately became a privileged place where to follow all the historical, political, economic and cultural happenings of the city of Trieste.

Located in what was once called Trieste's piazza dei Negozianti (the Shopkeepers' Square), the Caffè Tommaseo was founded in 1830 by Tommaso Marcato coming from Padua. The cafe' immediately became a privileged meeting place for artists, businessmen and politicians; in 1848 it was renamed in honor of the writer and patriot from Dalmatia, Tommaseo.

Famous for having introduced in Trieste at the beginning of the century, the novelty of ice-cream, the cafe' Tommaseo is a bright, sophisticated and elegant place: the mirrors, which were brought directly from Belgium about one hundred years ago, the chairs made in bent wood and the decorations, which are the work of the painter from Trieste Giuseppe Gatteri, all stand out distinctively.

Opened in 1914, the Caffè San Marco immediately became a meeting place for newspaper readers and a laboratory for the production of fake passports, which were allegedly needed by anti-Austrian patriots to flee from Italy.

It was completely destroyed by the Austrians during the war, but rebuilt to become, in the twenties, a meeting place for many intellectuals from Trieste, among whom Saba and Svevo. The interior proposes the typical atmosphere of the Viennese cafe': the engraved wooden counter, the nudes painted on the medallions on the walls, the obsessive repetition of coffee leaves on the decorations, the marble tables with their cast iron legs, the mirrors and the original frescoes.

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Le prime botteghe da caffè furono aperte a Trieste nella seconda metà del Settecento, probabilmente seguendo l'esempio di molti locali alla moda di Venezia, ma hanno immediatamente assunto una inconfondibile connotazione viennese nei loro arredi e nei servizi offerti. Nel 1768 in contrada Bottari, ora via San Nicolo ', a Benedetto Capano fu concessa la vendita esclusiva di acque calde e fredde, tè, caffè, cioccolata, limonate, sorbetti e sciroppo di acqua. Da allora i Caffè si sono moltiplicati a Trieste, che nel frattempo era diventata un emporio mitteleuropeo. Col passare del tempo, lo spirito cosmopolita della città ha proposto caratteristiche molto diverse, con bar distintamente politici ', caffè per gli ufficiali austriaci e top manager, il caffè borghesia', bar degli uomini d'affari ', e sempre più numerosi diventarono i caffè letterari', frequentati da James Joyce, Italo Svevo, Umberto Saba .

Il Caffè degli Specchi, inaugurato nel 1839, fu fondato e gestito dal greco Priovolo Nicolo '. Il cafe 'per la prima volta al piano terra di Palazzo Stratti,è situato in quella stessa Piazza Grande (divenuta Piazza dell'Unità' d'Italia nel 1918) che continua a rappresentare il cuore della città. Grazie a questa posizione speciale, il Caffe 'degli Specchi divenne subito un luogo privilegiato dove seguire tutte le vicende storiche,gli avvenimenti politici, economici e culturali della città di Trieste.

Joyce Museum - Trieste [Eng]

James Joyce arrived in Trieste on 20th October 1904 together with his partner Nora Barnacle to teach English to the local middle classes, write some great literary works and enjoy the life of a lively Mediterranean harbour city. Exactly one hundred years later, on the 20th October 2004, the 'Comune di Trieste', together with the University of Trieste, inaugurated the 'Museo Joyce Museum'.

The museum presents visitors with a wide range of information and material (in printed, digital and video form) on the almost eleven years which the Irish author spent in the city; on the various flats where he lived; on the places he used to frequent - churches and taverns, newspaper offices, villas and brothels; on his family - both his children, Giorgio and Lucia, were born in Trieste, and his brother Stanislaus and two of his sisters joined him there; and, naturally, on the great literary works which he wrote or started while there. These comprise The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Exiles and the short poem Giacomo Joyce - his only piece set in Trieste. His masterpiece Ulysses' first three chapters were conceived and written in Trieste, from where he asked his friend and colleague, Italo Svevo, the favour of bringing them to him in Paris, where he moved in 1919.

His friendship with Svevo, well-documented in the letters they exchanged, was one of the most meaningful relationships which Joyce entertained during his years in Trieste, so much so that the Triestine writer is thought by many to have been one of the models for the protagonist of Ulysses - Leopold Bloom. In honour of the latter, every year on 16th June - as is customary in Dublin - the 'Museo Joyce Museum' celebrates the Bloomsday, i.e. an event dedicated to Joyce and his work on the day on which the whole of his masterpiece Ulysses takes place.


Comune di Trieste
Video by TCD
With the contribution of Friuli Venezia Giulia

museojoycetrieste.it