Trieste, Italy–Sep. 18, 2025

The absolute highlight of the day (for me) was seeing a graffito. It’s near the bottom of the page, but I wanted to alert you to it here.

Museo Revoltella

Today’s first stop was the Museo Revoltella, a modern art museum. The first three photos are of things I saw on the way there. The rest are in no particular order.

Statues flanking a window on an upper floor of a yellow building

Statue of soldier Francesco Paglia at base of large pole

Statue of soldier Erminio Bassa at base of column

Abstract sculpture of horse on wall near museum entrance

Near the entrance

Oil paintings of a man and a young woman, a young boy, and a man wearing glasses

Statue of a woman holding a cloth above her head. she is surrounded by young children and a person with a crown

Gold-colored satyr’s head forming the end of a staircase railing

Gold decoration on the balusters of a staircase

The staircase is really classy.

Statue of the cutting of the isthmus of Suez. A young man is near the top; a bearded man and another younger man are seated. Women are at their side.

If I read this correctly, it has to do with the cutting of the isthmus of Suez.

Desk clock with painted roses and gold leaf base and handles

Desk clock; decoration on top is a statue of a man with two dogs that appear to be hunting dogs

Table with two shelves. The tabletop and shelves are edged with decorative gold metalwork

Tall glass lamp with chandelier-like top

Ballet dancer with flowers wrapped around her waist

Statue of woman singing; she has a (sculpted) sheet of music in her hand

Circular ceiling with floral design and gold geometric design in center

Triptych of an arena; the frame is three archways as if looking into the arena

There is a room devoted to the works by Ruggero Rovan. (I’m not entirely sure if the last couple of photos are his work or not.)

Five busts on a shelf under a table; a sixth bust of a man with chin resting on hand is atop a four-legged stool

At left, full-sized statue of naked woman. In center and right, three shelves of busts of a variety of people.

Painting of Rovan on wall; beneath it, the bust of him as a young man, and to its right, the bust of an older man with a moustache

Abstract stone sculpture of reclining woman

Bust; self-portrait of Marcello Mascherini

And more of the museum...

Abstract sculpture of farmer in hat sowing grain

Bronze statue of man with hands folded in prayer, head downwards

Impressionist painting of a man kissing a woman’s hand. The woman is wearing a pink dress. Her umbrella is lying on the man’s leg.

Statue of a seated man leaning on a walking stick. Next to him, a man bending down, his hat on the ground.

In foreground, bust of a woman, smiling, with her head tilted slightly upwards. Her hair is painted blonde.

Statue of bearded man with wings, pointing forwards and turning his head towards a woman standing next to him.

Marble bust of woman with upraised hand, index finger on chin.

Inscription at base of bust: La bouche garde le silence pour ecouter parler le coeur - A. Musset

The mouth keeps silent in order to hear the heart speak.

View of room with several abstract sculptures, one of them a gold hoop-shaped piece

Tall metal abstract bird sculpture with long neck and legs, short body and tail

My first thought when I saw this was of a drinking bird toy. I ain’t got no culture.

Wooden sculptue that looks like a group of fish, animal, and bird=shaped puzzle pieces

Large brass sphere with portions etched away to “reveal” internal scaffolding

Bronze sculpture of a man’s head; the man is frowning

Carved wooden rooster, head tilted back, crowing

Abstract stone sculpture in red arcs with black and white columns. The white portion has pastel colors on it.

Brass circular sculpture with point at the place where the loop is joined

Painting of a street scene with a giant hand, palm upward, lying in the street

Portrait of horsewoman in jodhpurs and riding boots, with a riding crop in her hand.

Oil on canvas portrait of man wearing a tan jacket. He has round glasses and black hair, and a thin face.

I thought this was George Orwell. It’s really Manlio Malabotta, who was an Italian poet.

Sculpture of woman with hands behind her back. She is looking backwards towards her feet, where she is balancing a ball.

Stone bust of a Jester. It is between two oil paintings, one of trees and the other of a woman in a long frilly dress

Sculpture of man and woman kissing. The man’s head and arm emerge from the stone slab at the back

Sculpture of woman drinking from a shallow bowl

Here are a couple of views from the top level of the museum. I had no idea that they used metal supports for the statues.

View of Trieste harbor from top floor of museum. A clock tower is in the left foreground

Top level of museum. Shows rear view of two statues with metal support rods

Walking in the Hills

After leaving the museum, I decided to walk uphill to get a view of Trieste from above. I can’t imagine what it must be like to live at those upper levels; I didn’t see any grocery stores in the area—just houses. It would be a hell of a trek to get the daily necessities. (Or perhaps there are plenty of stores and I just happened not to be on the streets where they were.)

Metal fence with decorative bottoms and pointy tops and sides

This should totally keep out the riff-raff.

Seated bronze woman, classical sculpted stone figures to left and right of her

Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who apparently was quite popular with the people of Trieste.

Statue of Pan at left; children are seated in niches between the windows, looking out at the street

Wall under balcony, with stones protruding from the wall

Two stone faces at side of an arched doorway

View of city buildings from hills above Trieste

View of city buildings from a street high up in Trieste

Windows with green wooden shutters. The shutters are slightly askew.

Stone sculpture of woman seated on edge of balcony

Sculpture of head of a man with moustache and turban

Memory Time

I saw this graffito on the riser of a stairway. It may be hard for you to make out what it says because the paint ran, but it’s NEL BLU DI PINTO DI BLU

Painted on stair step riser: NEL BLU DI PINTO DI BLU; paint has run downwards on most of the letters

And the moment I saw it, a flood of memories came back in an instant. These words are from a song commonly known in the US by the title Volare, sung by Domenico Modugno. I didn’t have to look up the name of the song or the singer before writing this. My parents had a 45 RPM recording of it, and I used to listen to it fairly often on the record player in the basement. I never expected to see the words “in the wild,” though.

Signage

Italian sounds so beautiful, even a word like “Sewerage“.

The lower case “v” is very unusual.

Cool lower case “a” in this logo. It’s the logo for Istituto Nazionale Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro (National Insurance Institute against Accidents at Work. I’m guessing it’s like the workmen’s comp organization.)

Company name inail, with the “a” in a near-cursive style