Casa Sardotsch, also known as the Casa Bizantina (Byzantine House), was an elegant historic building located in the Barriera Vecchia district of Trieste. It was designed by the engineer Raffaele Vicentini and built in 1875 on commission from Nicolò Sardotsch, a member of a local family.
The Engineer Raffaele Vicentini
Raffaele Angelo Vicentini (San Pier d'Isonzo, c. 1826 – Conegliano, 1885) was a hydraulic and civil engineer active in Trieste from the mid-nineteenth century. His best-known works include the Project for a new harbour for the city of Trieste of 1863, as well as studies on the reclamation and irrigation of the Isonzo river and a report on the Trieste aqueduct (1871). The authorship of Casa Sardotsch is attributed to him by local Triestine historical sources.
Architecture and Significance
The building's architecture was marked by a historicist style that evoked Byzantine elements — hence the nickname Casa Bizantina — making it one of the symbols of the multi-ethnic, cosmopolitan character typical of Trieste during the Austro-Hungarian period. It stood at the entrance to Largo Barriera Vecchia; to its right ran via dell'Arcata, today via Carducci, which disappeared with the demolitions of the 1930s.
The Caffè Bizantino
On the ground floor, Casa Sardotsch housed a well-known city café, the Caffè Bizantino, run by Matteo Covacich and frequented by a large and heterogeneous clientele rich in cultural ferment.
- It already had a telephone by 1909, a sign of its central role in the city's social life.
- It featured an outdoor seating area (dehors) facing the street.
- In the building's final years the premises operated under the name Bar Imperia.
Urban Transformation and Demolition
In the 1930s, with the new urban layout promoted by podestà Enrico Paolo Salem and the creation of Piazza dell'Impero (today Largo della Barriera Vecchia), the area underwent major transformations.
- As part of this plan, also marked by ideological intent celebrating the Italian colonial empire, Casa Sardotsch was demolished in 1934 along with other historic buildings in the area; the reshaping of the district continued until 1936.
- The new square was launched on 12 September 1936 and inaugurated on 28 October 1936. That same year saw the inauguration of the nearby Mercato Coperto (covered market), designed by Camillo Jona.
Post-War Period and Reconstruction Projects
By Presidential Resolution no. 407 of 6 July 1946, Piazza dell'Impero was renamed Largo della Barriera Vecchia. From the mid-1990s onwards, reconstructing the Casa Bizantina was discussed several times: the project, entrusted by the municipal administration to architect Peter Lorenz and reconsidered in 2006, envisaged a glass-and-steel reconstruction as a multicultural centre, but it was never carried out.
The loss of Casa Sardotsch is one of the many examples of how urban transformation erased much of the evidence of nineteenth-century Trieste, profoundly altering the city's historic and cultural fabric.