San Giusto Cathedral Audio Guide

San Giusto Cathedral: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Cattedrale di San Giusto

   Welcome to the cathedral of Trieste. You are standing at the top of San Giusto hill, in the square in front of the city's main Catholic church. The cathedral is formally the basilica cathedral of Saint Justus the Martyr, and since 1940 it has been an Italian national monument. The hill is the historic heart of Trieste. Medieval Trieste was essentially this hill, because the city walls enclosed only one slope and a strip of shore at its foot. So when you look at the cathedral, you are looking at the old city's center of gravity. In this guide we will look at how the cathedral was assembled from two earlier churches, at the Roman stones hiding in its walls and facade, at its mosaics and frescoes, and at the stories of its treasury. A note on what I can and cannot tell you: my sources cover history and art, but not opening hours or ticket details, so check those locally before you plan your visit.

2. 02

   Two Churches Under One Roof

   Here is the aha moment for this building: the cathedral you see is really two churches fused into one. Most Trieste historians say its present appearance comes from the union of two older churches. One was dedicated to Mary, the Assunta. The other was dedicated to the martyr Saint Justus. Tradition credits Bishop Rodolfo Pedrazzani da Robecco, who was bishop between 1302 and 1320, with bringing them under one roof to give the city an imposing cathedral. The story goes back further. In the ninth century two sacred buildings stood here. One was a smaller cathedral to the Virgin Assumed, with three naves and three apses. The other was the shrine of Saint Justus, also with three naves. Some of their remains can still be seen in the present floor. The fusion came in the fourteenth century. The right nave of the Assunta and the left nave of the shrine were demolished, and in their place rose the central nave of today's cathedral. In effect, two buildings were each cut in half and stitched together along the seam. Their old central apses survived, which is why the cathedral still has two distinctly different apses at its sides.

3. 03

   Roman Stones and a Gothic Facade

   Start outside, with the facade. It is simple, gabled, and lit by an elegant Gothic rose window. Now look at the portal. Its jambs were made from the two halves of a funerary stele of the Barbia family, dating to the early first century. In other words, a Roman family's tomb monument became the doorframe of a Christian cathedral. One of the carved busts, the lower right one, was later reworked into the martyr Sergius. Above, three bronze busts sit on brackets. They represent three bishops of Trieste: Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who became Pope Pius the Second, then Rinaldo Scarlicchio, and Andrea Rapicio. The Roman layer goes deeper. The oldest archaeological finds on the hill are the remains of a propylaeum, a monumental gateway, from the first century. Through a grating you can see them built into the bell tower. A large Roman civil basilica stood on the hill in the same century, which suggests a sizable settlement already existed on the shore below. Even older Christian traces survive: an inscription records the restoration of a little church in the year 547 by Bishop Frugifero, the first known bishop of Trieste.

4. 04

   Mosaics, Frescoes and the Treasury

   Inside, let your eyes go to the apses. In the apse of the old shrine of Saint Justus, you will see a mosaic from the early thirteenth century. It shows Christ Pantocrator between Saint Justus and Saint Servolo. Beneath the mosaics, around 1230, frescoes told the passion of Saint Justus in a rather popular, down-to-earth style. Among the other original frescoes, the Cycle of Saint Justus, in five elements, is displayed in a side chapel. Beside it is a small apse dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, decorated with Romanesque frescoes of the saint's life. The main apse is much younger. It was mosaicked in 1932 by the Venetian artist Guido Cadorin, who depicted the Coronation of the Virgin and Saints. A Latin inscription on the arch says the city of Trieste donated it on the fourteenth anniversary of the victory of the fourth of November 1918. Then there is the treasury, kept behind a Baroque grating. Objects include the thirteenth-century urn-reliquary of Saint Justus and the thirteenth-century crucifix of the Battuti. There is also the halberd of Saint Sergius, which became an emblem of Trieste. According to legend, it fell miraculously into the city's forum on the eighth of October in the year 303, as the soldier saint was martyred in Syria. That is a legend, not documented history. The treasury was looted in 1984, and scholars hold differing opinions about the origin of several objects.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you move on, take one more slow look at the cathedral as a layered object. Roman stone is in the doorway, the ninth-century floor lies beneath your feet, thirteenth-century mosaics glow in the apse, and a twentieth-century mosaic fills the main one. Few buildings let you read so many centuries in one visit. The hill itself has a modern chapter too. In the 1930s, a broad panoramic road called Via Capitolina was built to climb gently around the hill to the cathedral, as part of the Parco della Rimembranza designed by engineer Vittorio Privileggi between 1933 and 1935. If you have time, notice how the approach shapes your first view of the cathedral. And here is a question to carry with you: which of the two original churches do you feel more strongly in the present building, the Assunta or the shrine of Saint Justus? Their traces are still there, waiting for you to find them.