'Trieste Nazione' and its geographies of absence

摘要

The aim of this introductory essay is to offer a broad overview of the histories and geographies of Trieste stressing, in particular, the ways in which interpretations of Trieste's past have been structured by a distinct set of tropes; a distinct set of geographical imaginations. I will argue that it is only by engaging with these recurrent tropes, with these recurrent geographical imaginations, that we can begin to understand the ways in which the city represents its past—and its present. In this sense, the aim of this essay is to provide some necessary historical—but also 'ideal'—context for the more empirical investigations of the city's contemporary and historical geographies that make up this special issue.