Ideas simmer in pretty Trieste, where Italianate style and Eastern European sensibilities entwine in in this enigmatic city that belonged to the Austrian Empire until 1922. Storied streets and historic cafes have welcomed transient travellers and worrisome writers since long before James Joyce called the city home, drawn by allegorical architecture that bears witness to the region’s cultural collaboration. Poetic piazzas and fairy-tale castles are an ode to the wealth of monarchs of yore; hearty dishes borrow from the culinary canon of neighbouring Slovenia; and crisp whites showcase the fertile vineyards of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia winemaking region. Beyond the town, archaeological remains and fathomless caverns reach further back in time to a world when Roman Emperors ruled and giants roamed the land.