The Audacious Pier

The Molo Audace, 246 meters long, is a wonderful promenade on the sea. A stop that I suggest you make at sunset: the sun slowly disappearing over the water, colouring the sky like a painter does with his canvas, is a show of pure magic that you shouldn't miss, not even if the Bora blows hard. In 1740 the ship San Carlo sank in the port of Trieste, near the shore. Instead of removing the wreck, it was decided to use it as a base for the construction of a new pier, which was built between 1743 and 1751 and was named after San Carlo. At that time the pier was shorter than it is today; in fact it was only 95 metres long and was joined to the land by a small wooden bridge. In 1778 it was lengthened of 19 meters and in 1860-1861 of other 132 meters, reaching the actual length of 246 meters. The bridge was also eliminated, joining the pier directly to the mainland. At that time, both passenger and merchant ships docked at the San Carlo pier, with great movement of people and goods. On November 3, 1918, at the end of the First World War, the first ship of the Italian Navy to enter the port of Trieste and dock at the San Carlo pier was the destroyer Audace, whose anchor is now displayed at the base of the Victory Lighthouse. In remembrance of this event, in March 1922 the name of the pier was changed, calling it Audace, and at the end of the pier in 1925 a bronze wind rose was erected, with an epigraph in the middle commemorating the landing, and on the side the words "Fusa nel bronzo nemico III novembre MCMXXV".