Trieste (Tree-est-ay or Tree-est'; Slav. Terst), the most important seaport of Austro-Hungary, and the chief trading town on the Adriatic, stands at the head of the Gulf of Trieste, an arm of the Gulf of Venice, 370 miles by rail SSW. of Vienna. In 1849 it was constituted an imperial free city, and attached and belonging to it is a territory 36 sq. m. in extent. The old town, built on the slope of a steep hill, crowned by a castle (1508-1680), is distinguished by its narrow streets and black walls. It contains the cathedral, a Byzantine edifice (5th-14th c.), into whose walls stones bearing Roman inscriptions have been built, and whose tower rests on the foundation of a temple of Jupiter. The new town or Theresienstadt, with broad rectangular streets and handsome houses, occupies the plain that fronts the sea. Between these two divisions runs the Corso, the chief thoroughfare. The splendid Tergesteo (1840), in the new town, contains an exchange and reading-rooms, and the offices of the Austrian Lloyd's. Trieste, which from 1719 till 1st July 1891 was a free port, has a very fine new harbour (1868-83). The extensive industries include shipbuilding, rope-making, and the manufacture of soap, rosoglio, white-lead, leather, etc. Pop. (1810) 29,908; (1880) 144,844; (1900) 134,143, nearly all Catholics, and mostly Italian-speaking. Trieste (anc. Tergeste or Tergestum) was of importance under the Romans. In 1382 it passed finally to Austria. Charles Lever and Sir Richard Burton were consuls here.