Roman Theatre of Trieste

Is it worth the trip?

If you are in Trieste, yes. It is central, free and laid out so plainly that the shape of a Roman theatre reads at a glance from the pavement. It is not a reason to travel to Trieste on its own, and for now it is a monument you look into rather than walk round: the interior is closed for excavation and refurbishment works, and the Soprintendenza gives no reopening date. Pair it with the Arco di Riccardo and the forum on San Giusto hill, each a few hundred metres away (OpenStreetMap), on the Tergeste – Trieste page.

Getting there

The theatre lies on via del Teatro Romano at the foot of San Giusto hill, on the edge of the old town (it.wikipedia). Buses 5, 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 and 30 serve it (Comune di Trieste); the nearest stops OpenStreetMap maps are on Corso Italia, about 120 m away. The Park San Giusto car park is about 150 m away (OpenStreetMap).

There is nothing to pay: the remains are seen from the street outside. Guided visits and school activities inside have been suspended until further notice for the works (the Soprintendenza, read 20 October 2026); enquiries go to the Soprintendenza on +39 040 4527511.

History

When it was built the theatre stood at the northern edge of the town, against the first slopes of the hill and almost on the shore of the gulf: only the coast road from Aquileia lay between it and the sea. Land reclaimed over the centuries has since put the sea several hundred metres away, and via del Teatro Romano, which runs past the front of the stage, roughly follows the line of that ancient road (fr.wikipedia).

Published dates for its building differ. The Soprintendenza puts its first phase in the age of Augustus, and fr.wikipedia, comparing its architecture with the well-dated theatres of Mérida and Verona, in the last third of the 1st century BC; the city’s itinerary dates the original building to the middle of the 1st century AD. Early in the 2nd century Quintus Petronius Modestus, a procurator under Trajan, contributed to its restoration (the Soprintendenza). Three or four inscriptions found in the cavea name him, and they record work on the theatre without saying what it was (fr.wikipedia). Some accounts make him the theatre’s founder (de.wikipedia); fr.wikipedia calls that idea anachronistic and long abandoned. Most of the statues found here seem to date from his time: figures of Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hygieia, Asclepius and Dionysus decorated the stage, and a head of the emperor Titus was recut from one of Nero (fr.wikipedia).

At the end of antiquity the theatre was abandoned, used as a quarry and stripped of its most valuable stone, and houses were built against and on top of its walls (fr.wikipedia). The architect Pietro Nobile identified it in 1814, guided by the old name of the spot, “Rena vecia”, the old arena (Comune di Trieste). It was uncovered between July 1937 and September 1938, when part of the old town was demolished under Mussolini’s policy of showcasing the national heritage, the Roman above all (fr.wikipedia); medieval parts of the town were destroyed in the process (de.wikipedia). In 1964 a performance of Sophocles’ Electra returned it to its first use, and it has hosted summer performances since (fr.wikipedia).