The Hotel Letterario is pleased to invite you from Monday 4 March to Tuesday 30 April to the “Trieste e dintorni” art exhibition of the emerging painter from Trieste Alessandro Ludovisi. You can find him in the setting of the rooms of the hotel that was James Joyce’s home. Enjoy a coffee with a good book while savoring the streets of Trieste city and province and nearby Istria, thanks to the artist’s work.

We hope that as many people as possible will enjoy this exhibition, which examines the land we are fond of from a variety of perspectives. Each painting, in fact, highlights details of its infinite vastness, from the sea to the mountains, from the city to the natural landscape, from the human subject to the material one.

Let’s meet Alessandro Ludovisi through the pen of Agostino Ricardi di Netro, former author of “Oleg Supereco” published by Le Lettere Scarlatte:

“Enthusiasm, passion and friendliness: three elements you come across when you get to know this young painter, Alessandro Ludovisi, proudly from Trieste.
Boldness, strength of mind, curiosity: these are other impulses of his character, which push him to research, within himself and in the lands that surround him, moving like the tip of a compass across the entire Adriatic arc, from Venice to Pula , in the hope of finding meaning for his existence and his actions.
Is it love for Istria, for its stone and seaside towns, that attracts him on pilgrimage, and from there to document the fruit of his visions with bright colors on white canvases? Or is it the desire for painting, for fantastic and ancient views, for poetic subjects worthy of a joyful art, that leads him to adventure, never satisfied with small yet so important discoveries?
It’s a dog chasing its tail, this reflection on the life that Alessandro leads, because any answer that even he himself wanted to try to give would not be certain or definitive; the need to paint is so inherent in him, and so deep is his passion for the history and forms, down to the detail, of these lands.
However, it is not important to answer what, after all, is not a question, but a Hamlet-like, and therefore rhetorical, question about life, destined to remain open until the end of his days, if his heart wants to remain young: a what good is it to do? Why prepare, over and over again, other canvases? Why chase inaccessible yet fascinating destinations? And again, what can we hope for from his art and the fruits of his pictorial meditations?
The tools of his research are simple; the spots of color and the obsessive strokes of the brush, which builds shadows and lights longing for Van Gogh, do not have the presumption of establishing a high or refined discourse, but – in their best moments – yearn for a higher quality, sincerity. And so a Japanese-style sea view of Miramare is neither original nor quotable; a Munch-like perspective on the Cathedral of San Giusto is neither intellectual nor sentimental; an Istrian landscape is neither Fauvist nor expressionist. His works, with the healthy naivety that pervades them, are simply what they are: the expression of a young man’s sensitivity and affection for the images that move him, translated according to what his eye calls “beautiful ”.
As long as God preserves this enthusiasm for him, Alessandro can continue to paint; and it is not important that at the end of his story he can call himself a professional painter (how many greats have failed on that path?), but that he has cultivated that love for art and life, which today go so faithfully hand in hand in his person.”

The exhibition remains open to the public free of charge without reservation every day from 11am to 8pm except for some days where the room is privately booked. Check availability on +39040362415 or come in person to our hotel in Via Oriani, 2.

Furthermore, the artist made himself available for the sale of some of the paintings on display. Please feel free to contact us HERE for further information.

– Art in “Trieste e dintorni” with Alessandro Ludovisi – is this content you like? Take a look at the other tips from the Victoria Hotel Letterario and follow us on all social networks to stay up to date on the news!

Stay at least 2 nights at our hotel and you will have the opportunity to access the “Antonio Ligabue” exhibition at the Museo Revoltella in Trieste for free, which will be included in the FVG CARD which will be given to you at the hotel at the 50% discounted rate, upon request at the time of reservation, upon your arrival.

This option is valid only through direct booking, specifying acceptance of this offer at the time of booking itself.

(Antonio Ligabue, Leopardo nella foresta (1956-1957) Oil on panel, 54x54cm)

Check the availability of the hotel HERE and the Residence Victoria HERE now until June 30th, 2024.

• The amount includes the FVG CARD (discover the advantages of owning the FVG Card HERE)
• Free entry to the “Antonio Ligabue” exhibition (in the sala Scarpa del Museo Civico d’Arte Moderna Revoltella) is reserved only for holders of the FVG card. The adult FVG card that will be presented at the ticket office will also guarantee free access to 1 child up to 12 years old.
• The offers cannot be combined with each other or with others present for the same periods.

Check HERE the other initiatives we participate in and what to do in Trieste.

“Un bès… Dam un bès, uno solo! Che un giorno diventerà tutto splendido. Per me e per voi”. (Taken from the documentary: “Antonio Ligabue pittore” Raffaele Andreassi, 1962.)

on 16 July in Trieste, the Italian band will perform at the Stadio Nereo Rocco

Date zero of their first stadium tour

Over the past two years, Måneskin have literally conquered the world: their new album RUSH, released on 20 January, is currently number one in 15 different charts and in the TOP 5 of 20 countries; they have won 18 Diamond, 253 Platinum and 48 Gold records and have over 7 billion streams.

What Måneskin are doing is truly something unrepeatable, and these numbers are reflected in their live performances, with over half a million tickets sold and a never-ending tour: from Japan to America, from the most important clubs to the major rock festivals, the Loud Kids (Damiano, Victoria, Thomas and Ethan) have been nominated in the Best New Artist category at the Grammy Awards 2023 and next summer they return to Italy for four unmissable stadium nights in Rome and Milan.

From winning the Sanremo Festival 2021 to triumphing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, Måneskin took it all.

In 2022, Victoria, Damiano, Thomas and Ethan were the stars of colossal shows and grandiose stages at major festivals around the world – such as the historic Circus Maximus in Rome, which sold out with over 70. 000 attendees, Pinkpop (Netherlands), Rock am Ring (Germany) and Summer Sonic (Japan) – and numerous awards, including: the Best Alternative Video award at the MTV Video Music Awards (the first time ever for an Italian artist); victory at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2022 in the Best New Artist Video International category; victory at the Billboard Music Awards 2022 with Beggin as Best Song; triple Platinum certifications in the USA for the track Beggin, which has sold 3 million copies, and Platinum in the UK for Zitti e buoni.

It is therefore imperative to see them live!

The Trieste Film Festival is the most attentive film festival on what happens in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Of the 5 film festivals that are held in Trieste, this is the most important and this year celebrates 34 years. The Trieste Film Festival, better known as TFF, is a permanent observatory about Central and Eastern Europe. An important festival because it collects a wide production that otherwise would be difficult to see in Italy.

Seven days in which to enjoy high-quality cinema. Feature films, documentaries and short films in competition to award the best of the contemporary production.

The Rossetti Theater, and Ambasciatori Cinema, near the Victoria Literary Hotel, and the Teatro Miela, will frame the projections.

Naturally, the literary hotel is also on the front line to offer the best hospitality in Triest not only to those accredited by the Festival, but also to those who want to enjoy the festival and stay with us.

Enjoy the vision!

Trieste’s winter will be enlivened by two very different exhibitions within walking distance of each other. At the Salone degli Incanti the controversial exhibition of works attributed to BANSKY will run until April. On the other side of the square, at the Revoltella Museum we take a step back into the 19th century with the exhibition dedicated to the MACCHIAIOLI, also open until April.

An Unauthorised exhibition for the Great Communicator. Indeed, through his works Banksy launches messages in their purest form, creating an instantly recognisable and multicultural personal language and using the communication channels of our time to convey his art.

His messages of protest are metaphors about the world and society in which we live, simple and essential, which reach out directly and strike at the heart and mind, especially of the younger generation.

About sixty works from Italian and international collections (including some extraordinary large paintings) will be on display in the exhibition. They will be divided into genres and themes, providing visitors with the keys to understanding Banksy’s work through accurate didactic apparatuses on the general themes of the sections and on the individual works.

The exhibition will be complemented by hundreds of Banksy’s objects, photographs, memorabilia and video works will be introduced by an account of his roots and inspirations, i.e. those “movements that have used a form of visual protest through the fusion of words and images and with an attitude towards action, to which Banksy explicitly refers by way of modes of expression or elective affinities”.

OPENING HOURS: Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday and public holidays 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Special openings:
Thursday 8 December: 9am to 9pm
Sunday 25 December: 14:00 to 21:00
Monday 26 December: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday, 31 December: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday 1 January: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Monday 10 April: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

TICKET COST: Full € 14; Reduced € 11; Minors (6-17 years): € 7.00

The Macchiaioli are those Italian artists who in the 19th century decided to abandon the historical and mythological scenes of Neoclassicism and Romanticism to open up to a realistic and immediate painting style, without preparatory drawings, painting everyday life in dense and colourful ‘spots’, with short brush strokes that make the subjects much more truthful.

The contours in their paintings are blurred in an attempt to reproduce reality as it appears at a glance.
Active in the 1850s and 1860s, the Macchiaioli – whose main exponents were Telemaco Signorini, Giovanni Fattori and Silvestro Lega – met at the Caffè Michelangelo in Florence to discuss and debate ‘modern’ painting, and showed their works in public for the first time at the 1861 National Exhibition, receiving scornful criticism (‘Macchiaioli’ was actually the derogatory term they were called in 1862 by the conservative and Catholic newspaper ‘Nuova Europa’).

OPENING HOURS: Monday to Sunday and public holidays 9 am – 7 pm. Tuesday closed.

Special openings: Thursday 8 December 9am-7pm – Saturday 24 December 9am-2pm – Sunday 25 December CLOSED – Monday 26 December 9am-7pm – Saturday 31 December 9am-2pm – Sunday 1 January CLOSED – Friday 6 January 9am-7pm – Sunday 9 April 9am-7pm – Monday 10 April 9am-7pm

TICKET COST: Full € 16, Reduced € 14

Autumn is the month of the harvest, and in Trieste, in particular, there is an excellence that we would like to introduce you to: the precious oil obtained from the olive groves overlooking the sea. From 8th October to 26th November, every Saturday FiorRosso of Trieste opens the doors of its farm for the olive harvest and its transformation into the prized Karst oil.

Programme of the day
8.30 a.m. – gathering of participants at the farmhouse: illustration of olive growing in the
territory, techniques and harvesting methods;
9.15 a.m. – coffee break
9.30 am – start of harvesting operations;
12.00 – snack with tasting of local products;
1.30 p.m. – resumption of harvesting operations
4 p.m. – transfer of the olives to the mill;
4.30 p.m. – start of olive processing: narration of the extraction process and characteristics of the oils
6.30 p.m. – tasting of the new oil;
7 p.m. – distribution to participants of the oil obtained from the olives harvested during the day

The cost is € 85.00 per person

All participants must be in possession of a paper voucher issued by the hotel and
bookings must be made no later than 48 hours before the Saturday event.

The farm will provide 1 minibus for free transport from the hotel to their
their premises; reservations must be made, of course, as the number of places is limited.

Recommended clothing is sportswear.

All visitors will be provided with: goggles, gloves, rake, hat,
snack, 1 500 ml bottle of extra virgin olive oil packaged on site.

A museum full of wonders and mysteries… at the bottom of the sea!

An incredible world awaits us beneath the surface of the sea, made up of fascinating creatures, a treasure trove of plant and animal biodiversity that must be seen at least once in a lifetime.

Are you ready to discover the wonders of the underwater world? Trust the WWF’s staff of biologists and naturalists,

You will be provided with snorkelling equipment and accompanied to the Marine Protected Area: here you will be able to observe the hundreds of animal and plant species that populate it, swim among shoals of salps, breams and damselfish, come across the rarest corvinas or manage to spot organisms that might escape unseen eyes.

The proposed itineraries unfold below the coast, at the foot of Miramare Castle, along a shallow underwater path between the rocks and a few metres from the shore.

When: every Friday from 1/7 to 9/9 at 4 pm and every Sunday from 3/7 to 11/9 at 11 am

Where: from the beach of the Protected Marine Area of Miramare (BioMa) Duration: 2.30 hours

No. of participants: 6 pp per group/guide, up to a maximum of 2 simultaneous groups (12 pp with 2 guides) per day

Cost to the public: 25 euro/person

Tourists staying in Trieste for at least 1 night will be charged € 10.00.

Equipment: the compulsory equipment to participate (mask with snorkel, fins and neoprene wetsuit) is provided free of charge by the organisation, with the exception of the mask with snorkel, due to anti-Covid protocols (possibly to be updated as the health situation develops).

Soft lighting, silence: the sea speaks

(Sunset Boat Excursions)

An excursion at sunset aboard the new electric boat of the Miramare MPA, ecological and silent, respectful of the environment, the sea and the organisms that populate it, an opportunity to “tiptoe” through the waters of the oldest of Italy’s marine reserves, to be told by WWF staff about the rich biodiversity hidden above and below the water level and to enjoy the evocative spectacle offered by the white towers of Miramare Castle reflected in the sea at night. And stretching from Grignano towards Santa Croce, the nature excursion will also offer participants the opportunity to observe and “read” the landscape of the Trieste coastline and the sustainable human activities that make this area a UNESCO-recognised Biosphere Reserve, from the mussel farms that dot the sea to the agricultural production on the pastini made on the steep slopes of the Karst ridge.

When: every Saturday from 09/07 to 24/09 – 6.30 pm in July and August – 6 pm in September

Where: departure from the port of Grignano

Duration: about 2 hours

Number of participants: max 12 pp

Cost to the public: 40 euro

Tourists staying in Trieste for at least 1 night will be charged € 15.00.

In July and August, there is plenty of music and entertainment in the magnificent setting of San Giusto Castle.

The BirthAnniversary we’ve been waiting for!

22 is a magic number for our anti-hero JJ: on 2.2.1822 the great Irish writer, patron of our hotel, was born. And in 1922, his masterpiece ULYSSES was finally published.

2022 is therefore a year of great celebrations in his honour.

We too would like to pay tribute to him and to toast him as he would have wished, with his favourite wine, Opollo from Lissa, which he loved to drink in the taverns of the old town.

As Prof. Crivelli wrote:

“James Joyce’s years in Trieste were difficult but fruitful. Still in financial straits, the Irish writer loved to frequent the city’s main social venues: taverns and restaurants. As we know, Joyce was a great drinker (he also smoked a lot, Turmac) but he could certainly not afford spirits. His passion, however, was wine, especially white or rosé wine, such as the famous Opollo di Lissa, which was very popular at the beginning of the 20th century. A wine which, as they say, was light and refreshing, but legs-sawing. We have, in fact, news of the expeditions made by his brother Stanislaus, who had joined him in Trieste in 1905, in search of the poor drinker, who had ended up in some corner of a dive bar in Cavana. When he found him, he would carry him on his back and give him back to his companion Nora, who was forced to wait for him until the early hours of the morning”.

For this reason, wine and literature, which Joyce knew how to combine so well, become this year for our guests the possibility of a weekend stay in which we offer a walk to discover Joyce’s Trieste with a final aperitif, strictly in the Barbacan, a small square now as then full of taverns, to try the now unobtainable Opollo di Lissa.

VIDEOGAME The history of video games, MONET AND THE IMPRESSIONISTS in Normandy and FRIDA KHALO The chaos within are the exhibitions you will find in Trieste until next summer. But above all, if you book 2 nights in a hotel, we’ll give you the ticket for free!

VIDEOGAME The history of the video game

in Trieste at the Salone degli Incanti from 26 November 2021 to 20 February 2022

The exhibition traces the fundamental stages in the evolution of the video game and allows visitors to try out the games that have made history.

MONET AND THE IMPRESSIONISTS in Normandy

in Trieste at the Museo Revoltella from 11 January 2022 to 22 May 2022

An exhibition dedicated to the 70 most famous works of the Impressionist season by the masters Delacroix, Coubert, Monet and Renoir.

FRIDA KAHLO – Chaos Within

in Trieste at the Salone degli Incanti from 12 March to 23 July 2022

The life, history and creativity of the Mexican artist in an all-round journey through her works, writings and personal items.