Trieste was an important seat of the Austrian Hungarian Empire until after the wars of the twentieth century. The architecture shows that it has been a seat of power going back to the Romans.
The central plaza, named for the independence of Italy, has the town hall above and also "palaces" of shipping insurance companies, below.
A limestone plateau rises abruptly to the east of Trieste.
The American lady above was trying to get back into Trieste from the small town.
Woodland savannas above and below have native grasses and naturally occurring smoke bush, (Cotinus genus).
Dense woodland forest of hornbeams (Carpinus).
The Barcolana happened as we arrived in Trieste; certainly one of the largest sailing events in the world with 1,500 sailboats.
This church has Byzantine frescoes, Venetian lions carved on the Moorish inspired pulpit, ancient mosaic floors below - and it is still actively used, second below.
Alan admires the old Roman basilica in Aquileia above. 
'Le Giornate del Cinema Muto' (The Days of the Silent Film) is the biggest and most important silent movie event in the world. 2011 will be the thirtieth anniversary of the event, which is held in Pordenone (Friuli-Venezia-Giulia) Italy. It is about 100 kilometers north of Venice and takes place the first week of October.
Pordenone is very well equipped to handle the movie festival and does a wonderful job of providing a great venue.
During the film festival we were able to stay with a wonderful host family.
The hills above are near Asolo and the landscape shows what we biked through at the foot of the mountains in the provinces of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia going east.
Many battles were fought in the area, especially in World War I. The monument to war dead below commemorates Italian and French losses fighting together in WWI.
