The Night Town

The Old City – or citavecia in triestin dialect – was the historical centre of Trieste since the Roman period. Its extension goes uphill from the waterfront to the Castle of San Giusto. At Joyce’s time it had a population of about 20,000,in extremely overcrowded conditions, often without current water or higenical services. Of the whole city this was the area more populated by Italians and Catholics (about 90%) and being close to the port it had a large transient population, most of it sailors.

This zone was the site of Trieste’s red light district, which was divided between the Jewish Ghetto and the area near to the waterfront known as the Cavana: there were not less than 40-45 registered brothels.

The area also had an incredible number of cheap cafes, trattorie, osterie and petesserie (bars which served spirits, including absinthe) selling enormous amounts of alcohol. The result was that Trieste had many latent tensions and often there were brawls, robberies, muggings, knifings and the occasional murders were at the order of the day.

However, the Cittavecchia was also home of many families of sailors, with the men often gone for weeks or months.

Of particular interest is the Jewish Ghetto (opened by a Imperial decree in the late 18th Century), with its two historic synagogues, the Scuola (or Tempio) Grande, which celebrated both the Sepharditic and Ashkenazy rites, and the nearby Scuola Piccola.

Unfortunately, neither of these structures still exists, but Joyce may have attended services there (he also used to attend to the Serbian and Greek–orthodox rituals and at catholic masses).

Certainly, the Cittavecchia, with its crowded, labyrinthine streets, its mix of all the races and languages of the Empire and of the entire Mediterranean, its numerous cheap bars and eateries and pulsing life must have been very fascinating for Joyce, and there are many  accounts of his exploits in the Triestine ‘Night town’.

It‘s very meaningful that the only time Trieste is mentioned in Ulysses in the ‘Eumeus’ episode. The episode is about an incident which involves a brothel, contraband and murder, told by an old sailor who has just come ashore.

However, the Old City which Joyce knew doesn‘t exist anymore. Beginning in 1930, a massive demolition project razed large areas of it, replacing the original structures with modern administrative buildings, and leaving many other edifices abandoned or in ruins. Recently, many buildings which were left abandoned have been restructured in the area between the Cavana and Piazza Barbacan and hopefully in a few years visitors will be able to see again, at least in part, what it was like Joyce’s Triestine ‘Night town’.

Tag: brothels, Trieste, Ulysses