DAY 1. TRIESTE
Rendezvous in Piazza della Borsa with its sundial illustrating the attempts to free Napoleon from Saint Helena, and then towards Piazza Giuseppe Verdi with its theatre and its cannon balls as a testament to the last battle between the French and the English-Austrian armies in 1813. We then proceed to Piazza Unità d’Italia where the Locanda Grande (which hosted Girolamo, Elisa and Carolina Bonaparte) once stood. We continue towards via Cavana where we can still admire Palazzo Vicco, which housed the ferocious Minister of Police under Napoleon I, Joseph Fouché, after his experience in the Illyrian Provinces. We proceed on our route to the 19th-century buildings: Villa Sartorio, Villa Economo and Villa Necker, where Girolamo Bonaparte had once resided. In the evening accommodation at the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 2. TRIESTE
Breakfast and meeting with our guide. There will be a visit to the Revoltella Museum, where the Baron wove his contacts with the Parisian company that was engaged in the operations regarding the opening of the Suez Canal. We will stroll through the old city, where the rich had their palaces built, among which is Rotonda Panzera, an abandoned site that is still an important point of study regarding the presence of Freemasonry in the city in conjunction with the French. We will reach the Cathedral and the Castle of Saint Giusto or Saint Justus: places which are an integral part of a tourist itinerary that deals with the French, firstly for the tombs that found a place here, secondly for the battles and the legends that regard the French occupation of Trieste.
We will return to Piazza Libertà where Palazzo de Lellis once stood, a building which hosted the Mesdames of France who were escaping from the Revolution, and where Palazzo Economo stands today, property of the Economo family whose descendant, Hélène Chrissovelloni wife of Paul Morand, lived and died.
We will conclude with a visit to Duino Castle, where there are rich signs of the passage of French intellectuals and where Maria Bonaparte lived. Lunch will be served in a restaurant during our visit. In the evening accommodation at the hotel, dinner and overnight stay.
DAY 3. UDINE AND CAMPOFORMIDO
Transfer to Udine, in the central square of Piazza della Libertà, under the statue of Peace in Campoformio and meeting with our guide. From the square we will travel along the length of via Manin where we will pass through an ancient medieval tower and on the left we will admire Piazza Primo Maggio, characterized by its circular tree-lined plan which was carried out in the Napoleonic era. Palazzo Antonini, which is the current headquarters of the Province of Udine, bears a plaque on the outside that recalls Napoleon’s stay there in November of 1807, when the French Emperor visited Friuli and where he slept two nights.
Lunch at Da Bepo, a typical tavern in Bugnins.
The tour will conclude in Villa Manin where the Treaty of Campoformio was signed. End of the tour.
