Trieste, verdict by verdict

Trieste is Italy's most Central-European city: Piazza Unita d'Italia opening straight onto the sea, a Habsburg-era canal quarter, a coffee culture inherited from Viennese centuries, Maximilian's white Miramare castle on its promontory, and a karst plateau riddled with caves like Grotta Gigante. It feels like Vienna's Mediterranean port because it was.

The real caveats: the sight list is a one-to-two-day affair, the bora wind is a real winter hazard, and the airport sits thirty-three kilometres out, though linked by train. Travelers chasing Renaissance art blockbusters should adjust expectations, since Trieste is Habsburg rather than Medici.

Two days is the right dose: Piazza Unita, the Canal Grande and San Giusto on day one, Miramare plus Grotta Gigante or a Ljubljana hop on day two, and October brings the Barcolana regatta, the world's largest sailing race. April to June and September to October keep the Adriatic mild, trains reach Venice in two hours and Ljubljana in about the same, and the reward is a city Italians rank among their most liveable at half the tourist pressure of Venice. Sleep on the seafront for the Belle Epoque version or by the station for value.