Palazzo Dreher under construction, Piazza della Borsa

Aerial view of Piazza della Borsa during the construction of Palazzo Dreher. On the left the neoclassical portico of the Borsa Vecchia (Old Stock Exchange) with its columns and clock. In the centre the building site of the future Palazzo Dreher wrapped in wooden scaffolding, with the structure under elevation. On the right an elegant building with facade statues. In the background the rooftops of Trieste's old town, church domes and the surrounding hills. Pietro Opiglia's photograph documents the urban transformation of the commercial heart of Habsburg Trieste, where the new Dreher brewery palace was rising in one of the city's most prestigious squares.