Trieste is the European City of Science 2020. "I think it was fundamental for me to experience that great opening of the Gulf of Trieste, a sea in itself modest but that gives a sense of openness, the endless horizon that seems to prelude other, larger seas and oceans" — Claudio Magris
Border regions and cities have always had a certain charm: different populations and languages meet there, one country slowly fades into another. For its natural conformation, Trieste represents a border city which is particularly open, bridging the East with the West, the sea with the mainland. Once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, then point of contention between Italy and the Balkans, it fascinated and inspired poets, artists and intellectuals such as James Joyce, Italo Svevo and Umberto Saba.
