Via di Donota is one of the oldest and most evocative streets in the Città Vecchia of Trieste, located adjacent to the Teatro Romano and along the slope of the hill of San Giusto. Its history has roots in the Roman era and spans centuries of urban, social, and cultural transformations, making it a true “palimpsest” of the city.
From Roman antiquity to the Middle Ages
Via di Donota follows the path of an ancient road that connected Aquileia with the center of Tergeste, an extension of the Roman Cardo maximus.
Archaeological excavations conducted between 1980 and 1986 brought to light, right along this street and in its vicinity, the remains of a domus romana (late 1st century BC – 1st century AD), built on two levels to adapt to the slope of the hill. The dwelling, equipped with decorated rooms, a well, and a latrine, was abandoned at the end of the 1st century AD and subsequently reused as a pagan necropolis between the 2nd and 6th centuries, with:
- Box tombs
- Pit tombs
- Amphora burials of children
evidence of high infant mortality in the late antique period.
In the Middle Ages, at the entrance to the street stood the Torre-Porta Donota, a crenellated tower with a square plan, drawbridge, and moat, which defended one of the main accesses to the city walls and the castle of San Giusto. The area was later incorporated into the medieval walls, and the tower, no longer visible today, is remembered by the toponymy and the presence of the wall tower where the Antiquarium di via Donota is set up, displaying artifacts from local excavations.
Modern and contemporary era
With the urban development of the 19th century, the original facade of the Porta Donota was covered by new buildings, and in the space in front arose Piazza Donota. The street maintained its importance as a commercial and popular artery, rich in shops and inhabited by sea workers.
In the 19th century, the Ploner brothers founded a musical instrument workshop there, inventing the “alla triestina” keyboard for accordion, much appreciated between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.
During the building renovation works of the 1980s, further medieval and Roman remains were discovered, including:
- A 1st-century building
- 4th-century pit tombs
- Funerary amphorae
now preserved in the Antiquarium.
The building at number 16 stands on a medieval pre-existence, as confirmed by excavations that have yielded sandstone walls, tile fragments, colored plasters, and mosaic parts. On the facade, a medieval mullioned window in Istria stone is still visible.
At the corner with via del Crocefisso is the shrine called “Pontal de Cristo”, possibly of medieval origin, rebuilt several times after fires and thefts, today the work of the sculptor Renzo Possenelli. In the Androna degli Scalini, which connects via del Teatro Romano and via di Donota, a public laundry was active until 1936.
Curiosities and memory
Via di Donota has been for centuries one of the main access roads to the city, a crossroads of trade, crafts, and cultures. Today it preserves the charm of ancient Trieste, with its historic houses, archaeological traces, and testimonies of a popular and multi-ethnic life. The Antiquarium di via Donota, although temporarily closed, represents a reference point for the knowledge of the urban and social history of Trieste.
Via di Donota thus remains a symbolic place, where the memories of Roman Tergeste, the Triestine Middle Ages, and the modern city intertwine, testifying to the continuity and stratification of local history.