Grotta Gigante

The Grotta Gigante horizontal pendulums are a pair of tiltmeters used for monitoring Earth movements, mounted in the Grotta Gigante in Italy. The horizontal pendulums, installed by the geodesist Antonio Marussi in 1959, are sensitive to deviations of the vertical, to rotations and shearing of the cave. The pendulum beam is suspended horizontally by two steel wires, an upper one fixed to the roof of the cave, the lower one fixed to the floor. The pendulum beam rotates in the horizontal plane around a virtual near-to-vertical axis that passes through the upper and lower mounting points.

Monrupino (Slovene: Repentabor) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Trieste in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of Trieste, on the border with Slovenia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 848 and an area of 12.7 square kilometres (4.9 sq mi). According to the 1971 census, 77.3% of the population are Slovenes. The municipality of Monrupino contains the frazioni (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Fernetti, Zolla, Rupingrande.Border crossings into Slovenia are located at Monrupino (called Repentabor on the Slovenian side) and Fernetti (Fernetiči). Monrupino borders the following municipalities: Trieste, Sgonico, Sežana (Slovenia).

The Temple of Monte Grisa, officially the National Shrine of Mary Mother and Queen (Italian: Santuario Nazionale a Maria Madre e Regina), is a Roman-Catholic church north of the city of Trieste. Located at an altitude of 300 metres on the edge of the Karst Plateau above Barcola and Miramare Castle, it is a most conspicuous landmark. It was built at the initiative of Antonio Santin, since 16 May 1938 Bishop of Trieste and Koper. Seeing the riots between the Nazi occupiers and the Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale on 30 April 1945 he made a vow to erect a church, if Trieste was saved from total destruction. The city was saved and in 1959 Santin obtained permission from Pope John XXIII to build a pilgrimage church dedicated to the Holy Mary as a symbol of the peace and unity of all people. The temple was designed by Professor Antonio Guacci, after sketches by Santin. The triangular structures should evoke the letter M as a symbol of the Holy Mary. The church was built in between 1963 and 1965, after a first stone had been laid on 19 September 1959. Santin inaugurated the church on 22 May 1966. On 1 May 1992 Pope John Paul II visited the temple. In 2010 restoration works took place, because the concrete had suffered from alkali-silica reaction.

The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Trieste (4.2 hectares) is a nature preserve and botanical garden operated by the University of Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northern Italy. The garden was established in 1963 on the grounds of Villa Valerio, a chocolate baron's former estate, shortly after it became university property. In 1968 two small greenhouses were added. The garden's most recent catalog was published in 1990; since then the garden has not been fully maintained. At present, about 1 hectare is planted with specimens including Aesculus hippocastanum, Laurus nobilis, Prunus avium, and Sambucus nigra, as well as Helleborus, Polypodium, Seseli, and Valeriana. The remaining area is kept in a natural state; species include Carpinus orientalis, Centaurea forojuliensis, Pinus nigra, Quercus petraea, Quercus pubescens, as well as Dianthus tergestinus, Euphorbia characias wulfenii, Potentilla tommasiniana, Ruscus aculeatus, etc. One greenhouse contains a collection of about 80 species of succulent plants including Aizoaceae, Cactaceae, Crassulaceae, and Euphorbiaceae; the other is devoted to species of temperate climates.

Duino-Aurisina (Slovene: Devin-Nabrežina, German: Thübein-Nabreschin, also Tybein; Triestine: Duin-Aurisina) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Trieste in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Lying near the border with Slovenia, it has a substantial Slovene minority. It is named by the two major settlements, Duino (Devin) and Aurisina (Nabrežina).

Sgonico (Slovene: Zgonik; Triestine: Sgonico) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Trieste in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 12 kilometres (7 mi) northwest of Trieste, on the border with Slovenia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,130 and an area of 31.3 square kilometres (12.1 sq mi). According to the 1971 census, 81.6% of the population are Slovenes. Sgonico borders these municipalities: Duino-Aurisina, Monrupino, Sežana (Slovenia), and Trieste.

Prosecco (Italian: [proˈsekko]; Slovene: Prosek) is a village near the city of Trieste, Italy. It is best known for giving the name to the wine Prosecco. It lies 249 metres (817 feet) above sea level.

Barcola is a maritime neighbourhood of Trieste, Italy. It is a popular tourist place with beaches and long promenades, near the Habsburg-established Miramare Castle. Barcola is highly valued for the high quality of life and the free access to the sea. The long and partly shady 5 km long waterfront of Barcola serves as a recreation area and city bathing beach of Trieste and is connected to the city center, Miramare, Sistiana but also partly to Grado by bus lines and regular shipping services. Barcola has several small ports, especially Porticciolo di Barcola, where local professional fishermen also work and liner shipping operates. The place is the center of the Barcolana regatta, currently the largest sailing race in the world. Known in Roman times as "Vallicula" or later as "Valcula", Barcola is known for its exclusive houses, the view from the green hills of the Gulf of Trieste, its long coastal promenade with extensive bathing and sports facilities and its hedonistically relaxed sporty mood. It is often referred to as the Adriatic Malibu.

The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II. For a period of seven years, it acted essentially as a free city. The territory was established on 10 February 1947 by a protocol of the Treaty of Peace with Italy in order to accommodate an ethnically and culturally mixed population in a neutral independent country. The intention was also to cool down territorial claims between Italy and Yugoslavia, due to its strategic importance for trade with Central Europe. It came into existence on 15 September 1947. Its administration was divided into two areas: one being the port city of Trieste with a narrow coastal strip to the northwest (Zone A); the other (Zone B) was formed by a small portion of the north-western part of the Istrian peninsula. The territory was dissolved de facto and given to Italy and Yugoslavia in 1954. This was formalized much later by the bilateral Treaty of Osimo of 1975, ratified in 1977.

Opicina (formerly Poggioreale del Carso in Italian), (Slovene: Opčine, Triestine: Opcina), is a town in northeastern Italy, close to the Slovenian border at Fernetti (Slovene: Fernetiči). Opicina is a frazione of the comune of Trieste, the provincial and regional capital. The town has a large Slovene population, with Slovenian being widely used alongside Italian in private and public institutions. The first town near Opicina is Sežana in Slovenia, there is also the next railway station.

The Giardino Botanico Carsiana (Carsiana Botanical Garden) is a botanical garden located within the municipality of Sgonico (Zgonik) between the villages of Gabrovizza and Sgonico, Province of Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. It is open every morning except Mondays and the afternoons at the weekend and on public holidays between April and mid-October. An admission fee (currently €3,00 - €2,00 reduced) is charged. The garden was privately created in 1964 to preserve species indigenous to the Carso (Kras) limestone plateau, and in 1972 gained support from the Trieste provincial government that have owned the garden . Its 6,000 m2 area currently contains about 600 of the 1600 species native to the local karst environment, including its grasslands and scree. Signs throughout the garden identify individual plants and karst topography features.

Vittoria Light (Italian: Faro della Vittoria) also known as the Victory Lighthouse, is an active lighthouse in Trieste, Italy, serving the Gulf of Trieste. It is located on the hill of Gretta (Poggio di Gretta), off the Strada del Friuli. At a height of 223 feet (68 m) it is one of the tallest lighthouses in the world.