Trieste and the City of the Future

The David McWilliams Podcast

Trieste is a city that’s belonged to everyone, and no one. This week, we go walking through a place that’s been Austrian, Italian, Yugoslav, and, at one point, technically run by the United Nations. It's a port city without a hinterland, a European crossroads where empires once collided, and identities blurred. What if this strange, stateless city is actually a glimpse of the future? Trieste thrived when borders were open and trade was fluid. It declined when nationalism took hold and lines were drawn. In a world now swinging back toward protectionism, identity politics, and hard frontiers, Trieste’s story becomes a warning. We explore how the city gave rise to Freud, Joyce, and Svevo, why it drove Mussolini mad, and what it teaches us about globalisation, ambiguity, and the power of being in-between. It’s a story about ports, poetry, and politics, where geography becomes destiny, and liminality becomes strength. As cities everywhere wrestle with who they are and who they serve, Trieste might just be the original global city: chaotic, contradictory, and decades ahead of its time.

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