Standing at the crossroads

Gorizia is one of those border cities that doesn’t feel quite one or the other. On the one hand, it is characteristically Italian: emotions are thrown around in the wild gestures of hands. Yet there is also a splash of Austro-Hungarian grandeur in the architecture, as well as a sense of the delicate, soft nature of Slovene culture.

First documented in 1001 AD, Gorizia has always been at the crossroads of Latin, Slavic and Germanic influences. Its Italian name comes from the Slovene word , which means “little hill”. The Slovenes now call it Stara Gorica, which means Old Gorizia, to distinguish it from the new town, Nova Gorizia, which was developed on the other side of the