by Victor Caneva
Now in my forty-first year, I relate to Trieste’s iconic Porto Vecchio or “Old Port” in a new way. Back in the late 1800’s it was the “New Port,” a bastion of innovation, boasting cutting-edge engineering with a limitless future on the horizon. Twenty or so years ago, I expectantly left college, the world brimming with infinite potential. Now, I hurt myself picking up my kids’ toys.
The port has also seen better days, its once-sparkling edifices crumbling and climbing with vines. But don’t count us out just yet. I’m betting on the port and me reinventing ourselves, being forged into more aesthetic and refined versions of our youthful forms, setting out – this time with more wisdom and boldness – with the world once again at our fingertips.
Strolling unhurriedly all the way from the Ponterosso Canal to sunkissed Barcola, I recently spent some quality time with the old port under an electric-blue November sky. This route is popular with Triestini cyclists and walkers, who avoid much of the traffic on Viale Miramare as they make their way to seaside spots north of town. Porto Vecchio is also a veritable theme park for industrial archeology enthusiasts, immersing visitors in gritty but beautiful scenes of 19th century commerce.
When it was constructed between 1868 and 1887, Porto Vecchio was a progressive anomaly in the Medittereanean region, modeled after more efficient ports in Northern Europe and specifically drawing inspiration from Hamburg’s Speicherstadt. Its warehouses and hangars were designed according to the Lagerhäuser system, characterized by areas of a city designed and designated for receiving, storing, and shipping goods.
At the time, these warehouses were considered state-of-the-art construction, some featuring ground-breaking innovations utilizing reinforced concrete. Twenty three of the port’s thirty eight original buildings still stand on the over 600,000 square meter expanse, including warehouses, hangars, a truly unique hydrodynamic plant, and even the shell of an old inn dating from the 1930’s.
Walking among these quiet stone giants is surreal. It is easy to imagine the clamor of industry, the clattering of hoists, the jarring of pallets meeting the ground, the creaking of old cranes spinning to fetch merchandise, and the scores of voices – doubtlessly speaking the tongues of lands near and far- filling the air. But on this day, I could hear my own footsteps as I strolled past, the warehouses and hangars having fallen silent to ponder their role in this changed world.
As I worked my way toward the north end of the port, I arrived at the wonderfully restored hydrodynamic plant, a buttercream example of Rundbogenstil architecture. When the plant opened in 1890, it placed Porto Vecchio in exclusive company with Hamburg, Genoa, Calcutta, and Buenos Aires the only other seaports privy to this technology. The facility once powered over one hundred cranes and around fifty hoists and now is the only example in the world of completely preserved hydrodynamic machinery housed in its original building.
This northern end is where Porto Vecchio’s rebirth has begun. The hydrodynamic plant, the old electric substation building, and Magazzino 26 make up the current Polo Museale or museum district of the port. Magazzino 26, the future home of the Museo del Mare, already hosts a fascinating exhibit about the history of the Lloyd Triestino Line as well as the Immaginario Scientifico Science Center, an interactive science museum complete with a planetarium. Nearby, Saipem, an Italian multinational oilfield services company operates a facility.
Both the hydrodynamic plant and the electric substation host various exhibitions and conferences. Even under the disruptive cloud of Covid-19, these restored Porto Vecchio buildings were the site of the 2020 EuroScience Open Forum, where Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte gave the closing address.
Disputes about its present and future have been plentiful, but I believe that Trieste has a stellar opportunity to both preserve the past and once again form Porto Vecchio into a place of innovation. Few places in the world offer such an eclectic assembly of historic infrastructure between the city, mountains, and the sea. You’ll see – Porto Vecchio and I will dust ourselves off, apply ourselves in new ways, grow in creativity – and surprise you. I might even start a stretching regimen.
