The Fiera di San Nicolò in Trieste: Story of a Beloved Tradition
Born from the Greek merchants of the Habsburg free port, the Fiera di San Nicolò is the true Christmas of Trieste's children: origins, the great 1923 move to Viale XX Settembre, and the traditions of gifts and Krampus.
In Trieste there is a celebration that children await even more eagerly than Christmas itself: the Fiera di San Nicolò. Trieste lives it as the heart of winter, on the night between 5 and 6 December, with an anticipation that for many families surpasses Christmas Day.
The true "Christmas" of Trieste's children
More than a market, the fair is a cultural crossroads. In it converge the Mediterranean-Byzantine world, Slavic traditions and the Central-European folklore of the Habsburg Empire — a faithful mirror of a border city.
Origins: the Habsburg free port and the Greek-Orthodox community
Charles VI, the free port and the eastern merchants
The fair is inseparable from the commercial boom that followed the free port proclaimed by Charles VI in 1719 and strengthened under Maria Theresa. Religious tolerance drew many Greeks fleeing the Ottoman Empire, who brought with them the cult of Saint Nicholas of Myra.
Saint Nicholas, patron of sailors, and the Greek church
Saint Nicholas is not the patron of Trieste — that is San Giusto — but he was deeply venerated. The Greek community built the Greek-Orthodox Church of San Nicolò between 1784 and 1787, later redesigned by architect Matteo Pertsch. It was beside this church, around the liturgical feast of 6 December, that the first festive markets began.
Central-European folklore: gifts, Krampus and Parkeljni
The domestic ritual of 5–6 December
On the evening of 5 December children write letters and leave shoes or plates on the windowsill, with hay or carrots for the saint's donkey. Well-behaved children find sweets, mandarins and nuts; the naughty ones receive coal (today sweet).
Good versus evil: Krampus and Parkeljni
In Alpine-Habsburg folklore the saint is flanked by the Krampus, goat-like demons with chains; in the Slovenian Karst they are the Parkeljni. The sweet bread Miklavževi Parkeljni is eaten on the morning of 6 December.
The great move of 1923: from Via Mazzini to Viale XX Settembre
Until 1922 the stalls filled Via Mazzini and nearby streets, from Piazza della Legna (today Goldoni) to today's Piazza della Repubblica, for just three days. In December 1923 a municipal decree moved the fair to the elegant Viale XX Settembre (then Via dell'Acquedotto), extending it to a week.
The first edition on the boulevard caused disorientation: Il Piccolo recorded an ironic dialect dialogue, huge crowds, the detention of ten pickpockets and a near-fire.
Viale XX Settembre, the fair's stage
The tree-lined boulevard was the bourgeoisie's favourite promenade, home to the Politeama Rossetti (1878), Liberty palaces and the birthplace of writer Italo Svevo at number 16 — a setting of cafés, theatres and cinemas.
The post-war years: spectacular arrivals and collective myth
Saint Nicholas's arrivals from 1958
In 1958 a costumed Saint Nicholas arrived by train at the Central Station and paraded on a nineteenth-century carriage; later he came by motorboat and helicopter.
The 1965 boom and the Teatro dei Piccoli
The 1965 edition drew over 600 stall applications and overflowed into Via Cesare Battisti. At the Cinema Alabarda, Carlo Fiorello's Teatro dei Piccoli delighted children with talking beasts and the gorilla Makoko.
The fair today: a hundred years on the boulevard
In 2023 the fair celebrated the centenary of its move to the boulevard, with around 90 exhibitors across Viale XX Settembre, Largo Don Bonifacio and Via Muratti — between early Christmas shopping and the magic for children.
An anthropological archive of Trieste
The Fiera di San Nicolò is not a simple commercial market but a deep identity stronghold. It reminds the Triestini of their cosmopolitan roots — Greek, Habsburg, Slavic and Italian — keeping alive the city's plural soul and passing on the spirit of generosity.