Gorizia

Gorizia is the Friuli city named European Capital of Culture 2025, along with Nova Gorica, and it's located in the Collio region. The city isn't very large and can be visited in a day, but we recommend at least two days to explore it leisurely. The first stop to visit is the Castle, which, with its hilltop location and surrounding walls, still reflects its medieval origins.

Piazza della Transalpina is one of the city's most symbolic places. For many years, it was the point of separation between Italians and Yugoslavs, and currently, historic steam trains travel this stretch to take tourists from Gorizia to Lake Bled. Across from the square is the Old Transalpine Railway Station, which once connected Trieste to Jesenice in Slovenia.

The historic center also offers another unique triangular square, Piazza della Vittoria. On this square, important and historic buildings like Casa Torriana, a 16th-century construction now serving as the Prefecture, overlook the area. From Piazza Vittoria, you can access Via Rastello, the city's oldest street dating back to the 1300s. It's named so because it used to be closed off by a gate shaped like a "rake" that, during medieval times, separated the citadel around the castle from the surrounding countryside.