Construction of the Palace Excelsior Hotel

The construction site of the Palace Excelsior Hotel in Trieste, photographed through the vertical beams of a scaffolding. The foundation excavation fills the entire foreground, where dozens of workers labour among rubble, timber planks and stone blocks. In the background rises an imposing neoclassical building with its long facade. On the left the port with its cranes and the Karst hills on the horizon are visible. Pietro Opiglia's photograph documents a crucial phase of building development in Habsburg Trieste, when the city invested in elite tourism with luxury hotel facilities.