A Little Slice of Italy

Last weekend, to celebrate our final few days on the Adriatic Sea, Abbie and I trekked to Trieste, Italy for a taste of Italian culture and cuisine. There is just something so inimitable about the country; you can feel the fervor of the Italians immediately after crossing the border.

Trieste Canal

Trieste is a large port town that blends Slovenian and Italian customs, as it is about a five-minute drive from the Slovenian border. The entire city is located on a steep slope overlooking the sea, and the roads feel like they are as wide as our tiny rental sedan. Abbie and I held on for dear life swerving through the narrow, windy, STEEP paths that led to and throughout the city. After parking at the port, we bee-lined straight for a pizzeria and enjoyed some Italian vino and a calzone. We had contacted a couple locals through couchsurfing.com (which is utterly amazing) and had planned to meet up with one of them that day so that they could show us around. We perched at an outdoor bar and enjoyed aperol and aperitivo (a pre-dinner drink and appetizer-like snacks provided with every drink, much like Spanish tapas) as we waited for our new friend. Federico (or “Feddy” as everyone called him) showed up with a mental itinerary, and his genuine character served as the perfect welcoming. A native-born Triestian, Feddy knew tons of facts about the various sites he led us to: an ancient Roman theater and ruins, the Trieste castle and fortress, the annual chocolate fair where he treated us to Italian hot chocolate (I got a mix of white and dark, which is solely melted chocolate aka extremely rich and delicious). Next, Feddy began explaining the ritual of an “Opazzi”, which is a Slovenian-Italian tradition that occurs for about a month of every year in Trieste. Local Italian families living in the outskirts of the town open up their homes for others to come and try their homemade wine, cheese, and other aperitivo. However, you can only find these homes through secret “holly-and-arrow messages” scattered throughout the boroughs (see picture below). Feddy invited us and some of his friends to the Opazzi near his home, where we enjoyed the family’s wine, cheese, bread, and prosciutto. Feddy and his friends were some of the nicest people I have ever met, completely enthused in everything Abbie and I had to say, despite their difficulties in understanding our rapid and slangy English. They apologized immensely for not being able to come out with us that night as they had a birthday party, but directed us to the most fun bars and discotheques. A night out in Italy proved amusing to say the least, and the outdoor culture left us refreshed after a long evening of drinks and more aperitivo on the streets of Trieste.

One of the hidden arrow messages leading to an Opazzi

The next day we toured another fortress situated directly on the coast, and headed to a local Italian restaurant for some pasta! Seafood is the obvious specialty of the coastal town, and a heaping plate of spaghetti and shellfish gave us the satisfaction of trying authentic Trieste fare. After, we met up with yet another couchsurfing friend. (side note: couchsurfing.com is an international networking website that allows you to contact people from all over the world who are willing to show you around the city they are living in or are willing to provide lodging for free! It has seriously restored my faith in humanity, as everyone we have met through it has been unnecessarily gracious in showing us around, taking us to the best and most “hidden” places, even buying us gelato!!) Anyways, Pablo is from Argentina and is a student in Trieste, so we chatted with him during a walk along the coast for a few hours. We said our goodbyes as we needed to head back to Zagreb, but he is in Brussels this weekend so he is going out with us and our colleague tonight! I love how paradoxically big and small this world really is...

Abbie, Pablo, and I at Piazza Unita