Trieste, too, has its Canal Grande, a navigable canal situated in the city centre, midway between the railway station and Piazza Unità d'Italia.
The Canal Grande was realized in 1754-1756 by Matteo Pirona from Venice, by further excavating the main collector drain of the salt pans, when the latter were filled in in order to allow the urban development of Trieste.
At first the canal was longer than it is today: it lapped St. Anthony's Church until its end part was filled in in 1934 using the ruins of the old city, thus creating Piazza Sant'Antonio.
A curious fact: during the filling in a small torpedo boat, abandoned there since the end of the First World War, was buried as well.
The canal is overlooked by Palazzo Gopcevich, with its peculiar white and red plaster, which also houses the Carlo Schmidl Theatre Museum; the neoclassical church of St. Anthony Thaumaturge (Sant'Antonio Nuovo); the Caffè Stella Polare, one of Trieste's historic cafés; St. Spyridion's Orthodox Temple.
Next to the Ponte Rosso, where you will see the statue of Irish writer James Joyce, which recalls his stay in Trieste, you will reach the homonymous Piazza Ponterosso.The square, which stages a small outdoor market selling fruit, vegetables and flowers, is renowned for the characteristic calls of the saleswomen, who in dialect are called venderigole.
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