Piazza Unità d'Italia

Rectangular Square that opens on one side of the Trieste's Gulf and is surrounded by numerous buildings, including City Hall, the Government Palace and the Prefecture. It took its name after 1918, when the city was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. The current appearance comes from the last renovation (2001-2005), during which it was made paving blocks of sandstone similar to the traditional "masegni" that once pave it; the Fountain of the Four Continents was positioned outside the main entrance of the City Hall, bringing it back in its original location. The Fountain (1751-1754) was to represent Trieste as a city favored by fortune thanks to the establishment of the free port by Charles VI and development policies of Maria Theresa of Austria. Work by the sculptor Giovanni Battista Mazzoleni, it is the world representation by allegorical statues (Europe, Asia, Africa and America) from which water flowed; on the top, the winged female figure is Trieste. Immediately after the decision to bury the old dock (1858-1863), the Square was redesigned as a space open to the sea. The Town Hall is dominated by the bell tower, on which are placed the two robots that represent the Moors, also designed by Bruni, and 1876 mark the passage of time every quarter of an hour. From the central balcony of the Town Hall, in September 18, 1938 Benito Mussolini announced the promulgation of racial laws in Italy.