The debate to establish a “Trieste celebration” was initially in continuity with the nostalgia for Maria Theresa and everything that Austrian domination represented in these lands. The undoubted economic advantages due to the enlightened absolutist sovereign and the development of the port of Trieste as the main outlet to the sea of ​​an empire must however be contextualized. Exorbitant tariff concessions to beat the competition of the ports of Northern Europe and pharaonic infrastructural investments to connect the Julian port with Central Europe were the foundations for artificially building a state of economic well-being and a...