Villa Murat was a noble villa in Trieste, sadly known for having been demolished during the twentieth century, which served as the residence of Carolina Murat, Napoleon Bonaparte's sister and former Queen of Naples.
Carolina Murat in Trieste
Carolina Bonaparte (1782–1839), Napoleon's younger sister and wife of Marshal Joachim Murat — King of Naples from 1808 to 1815 — arrived in Trieste on June 6, 1815, a few months after Napoleon's final fall and shortly before her husband was captured and executed in Calabria in October of the same year.
She arrived under the name of Countess of Lipona (an anagram of Napoli) and was initially interned near Vienna by the Habsburgs, who kept her under strict surveillance. Only in 1821, following Napoleon's death on Saint Helena, did she obtain permission to settle permanently in Trieste, where she lived until her final days.
The villa built for her — later known as Villa Murat — became one of the symbolic places of the Napoleonic presence in the city. The Museo di Storia Patria in Trieste still preserves the model of the villa, glasses bearing the Murat monogram, and miniatures linked to the French imperial family, testifying to the importance of this chapter in the city's history.