Piazza Ponterosso e il canal Grande

The Grand Canal of Trieste is a navigable canal located in the heart of the Borgo Teresiano, in the heart of the city, approximately halfway between the railway station and Piazza Unità d'Italia, with its entrance from the San Giorgio del Porto Vecchio basin.

It was built in 1754-1756 by the Venetian Matteo Pirona, further digging the main collector of the salt pans, when these were buried to allow the urban development of the city outside the walls. It was built so that boats could go directly to the city center to unload and load their goods.

In its initial conformation, the canal was longer than it is today, and reached up to the church of Sant'Antonio. The terminal part of the canal was in fact buried in 1934, with the rubble resulting from the demolition of the old city, thus obtaining the current Piazza Sant'Antonio. In the landfill it is said that a small torpedo boat was also buried, which was moored there in failure and abandoned since the end of the war, although from the photographs of the time, depicting the burial works, no hull can be seen.

Over the canal area overlook:

- the side of the Aedes building, known as the red skyscraper (1928 - architect Arduino Berlam) (main facade on the Rive);
- the exhibition site of the Gopcevich palace (1850 - architect Giovanni Andrea Berlam), whose façade is distinguished by the particular design in red and yellow Greek frets, also home to the Carlo Schmidl Theater Museum;
- the neoclassical church of Sant’Antonio Taumaturgo (1849 - architect Pietro Nobile), known by all as Sant'Antonio Nuovo;
- the Stella Polare coffee, one of the historic cafes of Trieste;
- the Serbian Orthodox temple of the Holy Trinity and of San Spiridione (1869 - architect Carlo Maciachini), with the characteristic light blue domes;
- the side of the Genel palace (1873 - Domenico Monti) (main facade on piazza Ponterosso);
- the side of the Carciotti palace (1805 - architect Matteo Pertsch) (main facade on the banks).

The canal is now crossed by two bridges and a pedestrian walkway.

The Ponte Rosso, halfway through the canal, was built in wood in 1756, as soon as the construction of the canal was completed. It was then the only existing bridge, as the other bridges were built at a later date. It was rebuilt by enlarging it about ten years later and rebuilt again, this time in iron, in 1832. On the Red Bridge is the statue of the Irish writer James Joyce, in memory of his stay in the city. At the four ends of the bridge, four lanterns are positioned on the parapets that previously adorned the statue of Trieste's dedication to Austria which once stood in Piazza Libertà, in front of the railway station. The statue was inaugurated in 1889 and removed in 1919.

The Green Bridge, at the beginning of the canal, at the entrance to the sea, was built in iron in 1858. In 1904 another bridge was added to it, called Ponte Bianco or Ponte Nuovo, over which the railway that once connected the port passed. old to the new port passing through the Rive. At the beginning of the canal, close to the bridge, there is a squero for the dry docking and maintenance of small boats.
The name of the bridges derives from the color in which their structures were originally painted. At the time of their construction, the bridges were revolving or opening, to allow access to the canal of the sailing ships for the unloading of goods. The movable bridges were later replaced by the current fixed masonry bridges, which however only allow the passage of small boats during low tide. The Red Bridge was replaced in 1925, and the Green Bridge in 1950. With these buildings, the Green Bridge and the White Bridge became a single structure.

A 25 m long pedestrian walkway, laid over the canal on 4 December 2012 and inaugurated on 23 March 2013, connects Via Cassa di Risparmio with Via Trento. It is made with a steel structure, 120 cm high unbreakable glass parapets and a handrail on both sides, under which there are LED bodies that illuminate the walkway, covered in Istrian stone and steel. Due to an alleged error in measuring the width of the channel, the new walkway was also the protagonist following a goliardic action by the so-called S.O.T. (Sort of Triestine Organization) in collaboration with the Iazadi Association, in perfect "my friends" style, the banks of the Grand Canal were approached by means of ropes. The news was picked up by the main national press and television news, it should be clarified that it was obviously a gypsy in all respects. The bridge was officially named "Joyce Pass", but is commonly referred to as "Ponte Curto".

Next to the Ponte Rosso is the square of the same name Ponterosso, home to an outdoor fruit, vegetable and flower market. Over time, the lively market has shrunk considerably, and you no longer hear the characteristic calls that the vendors, called venderigole, launched to their customers. On one side of the square there is a fountain (1753 - Giovanni Battista Mazzoleni), with in the center the statue of a puttino, familiarly called Giovannin de Ponterosso, due to the fact that the water that fed it came from the San Giovanni district.

At the end of the canal there is the aforementioned Piazza Sant'Antonio, set up as a garden, with a large fountain in the center. The Stella Polare cafe, one of Trieste's historic cafes, overlooks the square.