Port of Trieste - The Porto Vecchio

The Porto Vecchio

The link between city and port, tied together within a single process of urban and historical development, becomes evident in the Porto Vecchio area, with an architectural heritage of great historical and artistic value. Porto Vecchio, located in the heart of the city, covers an area of about 600,000 sq.m. and represents a jewel to be relaunched through the identification of new functions.

The "capannoni", the oldest buildings of the port, were erected after the model of the Lagerhäuser, a word which refers to those parts of a city that are used for goods handling and include warehouses for the storage and stocking of goods, from their arrival in port to their shipment and distribution.

The port system visually links Miramare Castle, Barcola and San Giusto Castle and follows three directions: a central one, connecting the port with the city, a second one, corresponding to the piers, and a third one, adjacent to the railway.

The classification of warehouses and hangars (initially 38 main bodies) comprises three groups of buildings:

• one-storey above-ground buildings
• two or three-storey above-ground buildings, with cellars and garrets, with galleries that link the avant-corpses and are supported by cast-iron mullions
• four-storey above-ground buildings, with cellars, ground floors and four higher floors with galleries

The warehouses were initially equipped with cranes, elevators, hoists and other lifting equipment, which were used for goods loading and unloading and were hydraulically operated. The buildings of the first and second groups have a perron (a raised platform, about 1 meter high, used to perform loading and unloading operations with railway cars), while those of the third group, erected in more recent years (at the beginning of 1900), show entrance doors at ground level as well.

The architectural features of these monumental buildings lie in the vertical and horizontal lines along the facades, in the geometric definition of the basements, the doors, the windows and all the elements of the architectonic language of this complex.

Along the facade, the horizontal lines (the stringcourses, for instance) give the buildings a longitudinal appearance, while the vertical lines (pilaster strips and avant-corpses) create interruptions. Through the harmonisation of the lines, the structural elements take up an architectural character. The main body of the facades, from the base to the superstructure, shows unity and dimensional value.

At the time of the construction, decorating was achieved through the use of different finishing materials and the work of master decorators and stone-dressers. Cornices, modillions, capitals, basements, windowsills and avant-corpses made of different materials produce a suggestive effect, which is enhanced by the materials' natural colours creating a uniform chromatic impression.

Grey cast-iron mullions are a distinctive feature of hangars' ground floors.

Each building is an example of the technical architecture at the end of the 19th century, a period of transition for the construction principles and configuration of maritime structures, which were adjusting to a defensive function and to the new trend of equipment mechanisation.