VENEZIA GIULIA
Austrian, Slav, and Hungarian over-tones are evident in the versatile cuisine of this far corner of Italy. A prime favorite is costoletta alla Viennese, which, of course, is the old standby Wiener Schnitzel, all dressed up in a Latin name. In Trieste, the Hungarian national dish, guiyás, is enthroned as a local favorite. Hut in Trieste goulash is concocted of lean beef rather than of veal or pork. The meat is cut into cubes and cooked with smoked bacon, many onions, and copious seasonings of paprika and ardent Hungarian pepper, with appetizing results. Neither of these dishes can claim great originality, of course, but it comes as a surprise to find them so perfected in this remote niche of Italy.
Trieste has a soup all its own, however. This is iota triestina, a sturdy potage contrived of beans, potatoes, and sauerkraut, boiled with pig' feet and ribs of roast pork, and flavored with leaves of laurel and cloves of garlic. There is obviously nothing timid about local Trieste cooking! Naturally enough, there is a special fish soup in this famous seaport. It is called brodetto di pescc alla triestina and contains a miscellany of Adriatic fish, with mullet, eel, and turbot heading the cast. Finally there is a specialty for you 10 seek our in the pastry shops, It is called presnitz alla triestina—puff pastry with almonds, candied oranges, nurs, and honey. When it is sprinkled with chocolate, the prestiitz becomes a puitzza.
Some palate little wines are produced on the slopes above Trieste, particularly in the neighborhood of [stria. The best of the reds is called Terrano, which we sampled in the Dante restaitrant in Trieste with gustatory joy. Another is Del Garso. If you prefer a sparkling red wine, there is one called Refosco, dry, fizzy, and a bit heady. It' also from (Stria. To end a good dinner in Trieste, a Prosecco is very much in order. This is a limpid, golden nectar, not too sweet, and just the thing to go with that flamboyant pastry.
UDINE
This pleasant metropolis on the road between Venice and Vienna is unde-servedly omitted from many tours and guidebooks and seldom visited. Udine once bristled with military brass, for it served as Italian GHQ from 1915 to 1917. The city was sacked but not badly damaged in the Italian retreat from nearby Caporetto, one of the most disusicful names in Italian history.
If you like your architecture served in one concentrated dose, you will find it all lumped gloriously together in Udine' Piazza della Liberià. Monumental buildings burst out all over the place. There is the Palazzo Civico, a glittering mae structure built in the Venetian style—Ornate as a wedding cake, and much more satisfying. Across the way is the faintly Florentine Laggia of San Giovanni, dominated by a clock tower whose crowning glory is a duo of bronze gentlemen who strike a large bell on each quarter hour. Scattered nearby arc two imposing Venetian columns, a rotund fountain, and assorted mae statues of muscular Roman giants. Above it all looms the immense bulk of the Castello, now converted into a museum. This is one of the spots in Italy for which we reserve the much-abused word “breath-taking.” We can't say as much for the hotel accommodations or the restaurant food. but both are adequate. One good hotel is the EUROPA, down by the railway station. We chose the quieter ITALIA, located on the pleasant Piazza XX Settembre in the heart of the city. The rooms were all right. and dinner was served under the trees on a little terrace. The local specialties here are minestrone made with the local beans, Montasio cheese, polenta, and the famous ham of San Danielc.
PORDENONE
This ancient town on the road from Venice to Udine is listed principally for enthusiasts of Lombard Gothic architecture, The immense brick campanile of its cathedral, curved subtly at the top and capped by an octagonal spire, is one of the unheralded treasures of the region. Another is the ancient town hall, also of time-weathered brick. Pordenone is known principally as the birthplace of the painter Giovanni Licinio (1485-1539). called in the museum world “11 Pordcnune.” If yon happen to arrive line in the day, there is a suite hotel here, the ALBERGO Mo-DiiRNtx Pordenooe suffered cruelly during the last war. but is rebuilding rapidly.
AQUILEIA
This sleepy agricultural village in the flat lowlands below Udine is but a mine, somnolent shadow of its former self. Once it was a magnificent seaport, one of the four greatest cities of the Empire. and a favorite residence of the Emperor Augustus. Recent excavations have brought to light i(s extensive stone ducks, as well as a Roman forum whose mae columns now compere with neighboring cypresses for the traveler' appreciative attention.
Aquileia' greatest treasure, however. is its ninth-century basilica, an astounding structure recalling that later this was an ecclesiastical stronghold. It has the incredible good fortune to be built over mosaic pavements dating back to the fourth century and still in near-perfect condition. The mosaics depict many familiar scenes. Jonah' encounter with the whale among them. Beside the inspiring basilica stands an immense detached campanile, built partly by depleting the neighboring amphitheater-a lofty boneyard of Roman stones. There is a very touching cemetery nearby, shaded by olive trees. It contains the remains of several unknown Italian soldiers.
A pensive, haunting calm pervades the site of this forgotten seaport, Umbrella pines and cypresses provide shade for the relatively few visitors who linger awhile. The epicurean possibilities of the village are about exhausted when you buy an ice cream sandwich from a drowsing vendor. Hut never mind. Bring a picnic lunch or go hungry—but don't miss the richest archaeological experience in this part of Italy!
GRADO
If you motor seven miles south of Aquileia, you come to another ancient seaport Grado, however, conceals its venere origin under the trappings of a modern summer resort, and a Bikini is far more in keeping with the place than an archaeologist' shovel. But if you persist, you will find Roman and Byzantine columns in its cathedral.
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