Trieste and the New Golden Road
Trieste will play a pivotal role in the revival of the “New Golden Road,” linking Central-Eastern Europe to the Indo-Mediterranean and beyond.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Limes in Italian and is reprinted here in English with the permission of the publisher. The article has been edited for style and clarity.
All roads lead to Rome, the old saying goes. But in Italy’s twenty-first-century strategic ambitions, the roads now converge on a rather different city: Trieste.
The city and the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC) are pivotal to Italy’s future, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared during her keynote address at the Med Dialogue in November. A month earlier, at the G20 Summit in Brazil, she unveiled an action plan to implement the India-Italy Strategic Partnership signed in 2023. In her remarks, Meloni repeatedly emphasized the unique “peninsular partnership” between India and Italy, tracing it back four millennia as two peninsular nations situated at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, respectively.
This vision of peninsular partnership, rooted in geography and history, is more than a rhetorical flourish—it reflects the strategic import of Italy’s natural maritime assets. Genoa and Trieste, as Italy’s twin maritime hubs—Genoa on the west coast and Trieste on the east—serve both as the country’s dual gateways to the Transatlantic and Indo-Mediterranean economies and physically embody Rome’s twenty-first-century strategy: connecting past grandeur to future global aspirations.
Genoa, Italy’s leading national port, anchors its burgeoning trade and commerce with the Americas. Trieste, located at the head of the Adriatic Sea, serves as Europe’s most strategically positioned southern maritime gateway for economic, cultural, and academic engagement with the Indo-Mediterranean region. No other Mediterranean port is better suited to connect the industrial heartland of Europe, from Bern to Budapest and from Berlin to Belgrade. With these ports as its keystones, Italy is uniquely positioned—by geography, history, industry, and political orientation—to be a lead actor in the revival of the historic integration of Indo-European economies, establishing itself as Europe’s front-line state for Indo-Mediterranean trade and commerce. The importance of what is happening cannot be understated: we are witnessing the revival of the Golden Road. In this geopolitical transformation, Trieste stands out as a true European entrepôt, serving South-Central Europe much as Rotterdam serves North-Central Europe.
This revival is not merely about trade routes or economic corridors; it is the rekindling of a legacy that once shaped civilizations, setting the stage for not just a new chapter in Indo-European relations but global geoeconomics.
Toward a New Golden Road
In the past two years, it has become fashionable among Italian foreign policy circles to refer to the evolving trade networks between Europe and India as the “Cotton Road.” This term, while trendy, lacks historical veritas and resonance. Cotton, though significant, was but one of many goods that moved along the routes linking India to the Mediterranean world. A more fitting term, both historically and symbolically, is the “Golden Road.”
The Golden Road first emerged during the height of the Roman Empire, when robust maritime routes connected the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent. Roman gold flowed steadily to India in exchange for luxury goods such as spices, pepper, ivory, silk, and gemstones. Such was the extent of this trade that the Indian subcontinent holds the largest collection of ancient Roman gold coins found outside the Roman Empire. In the first century AD, the Roman naval commander Pliny the Elder lamented that “India absorbs the world’s gold…draining the Roman Empire of at least 55 million sesterces annually.” India’s ports, such as Muziris on the Malabar Coast, became vital nodes in this exchange, receiving Roman coins and exporting highly coveted goods westward. The importance of this splendid exchange is noteworthy: Roman reliance on Indian commodities was so substantial that the customs taxes levied on Red Sea trade alone are estimated to have financed a third of the empire’s military and administrative costs. Historian William Dalrymple, drawing on recent discoveries and analyses, has vividly chronicled this flourishing trade in his new book The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World, bringing these half-forgotten connections back to life.
It is essential that facts such as these are put in proper context. While most Italians—and Westerners more broadly—are well-versed in the influence and grandeur of ancient Greece and Rome, far fewer are familiar with the equally profound historical significance of India and its enduring cultural reach.
Ancient India, much like ancient Greece’s influence on Rome and Europe, was a cultural powerhouse whose impact stretched from Central Asia to Southeast Asia, including China. This vast “Indosphere,” spanning roughly 250 AD to 1200 AD, absorbed Indian religion, art, science, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, mythology, literature, and more. Sanskrit served as the lingua franca of this era, leaving its imprint in place names such as Balkh (Sanskrit: Bahlika) and Singapore (Sanskrit: Simhapura). The famed Nalanda University in eastern India rivaled Alexandria as a center of learning, attracting scholars from across the Indosphere and beyond. In the seventh century AD, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang observed that “people generally designate the land they most admire as India.” By contrast, the contemporary “Sinosphere” of that time was largely confined to Korea, Japan, and northern Vietnam.
It was this cultural and intellectual force that the Golden Road carried across the Indo-Mediterranean, linking India’s Indosphere to Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Europe. Arab intermediaries famously transmitted Indian science, astronomy, and mathematics to the Mediterranean world. In 1205, Fibonacci—Leonardo of Pisa—introduced these innovations to Europe in his seminal Liber Abaci (Book of Calculations), popularizing “Arabic numerals” while noting their origins in “the nine figures of India,” along with the concept of the number zero.
This network of exchange, of course, was not limited to the flow of ideas—it also facilitated the vibrant trade of goods and commodities that defined the era. Indian sailors, navigating monsoon winds, carried ships laden with pepper, spices, ivory, silk, gems, teak, sandalwood, and more. They sailed across the Red Sea to Egypt and the Mediterranean and across the Persian Gulf towards Mesopotamia and the Levant. The trade winds were particularly favorable for Indian sailors to reach Egypt in early summer and return home by late summer or early autumn. These same monsoon winds propelled Indian maritime trade across a vast expanse, from the Mediterranean to the Pacific, linking Egypt to China. The Golden Road was, in effect, a maritime superhighway connecting civilizations from the two ends of the Asia-Europe continents.
The integration of Egypt into the Roman Empire after the Battle of Actium in 31 AD catalyzed a nearly sixfold increase in Indo-Mediterranean trade through the Red Sea. The Greek geographer Strabo recorded that around this time, approximately 120 ships sailed annually from the Red Sea port of Myos Hormos to India. By the fourth century AD, the port of Berenike had replaced Myos Hormos as the primary Red Sea entrepôt for this thriving trade network.
As the Western Roman Empire declined in the fifth century AD, trade routes shifted. The rise of Byzantine and Persian powers redirected commerce, while the advent of Islamic caliphates later transformed the networks into an Islam-dominated maritime system. Yet, throughout these upheavals, India’s centrality to the region’s economic and cultural life endured, cementing the legacy of the Golden Road. Ultimately, it was the English colonization of the Indian subcontinent, its subsequent partition on the eve of independence, and decades of unrest across the Middle East that disrupted this ancient and prosperous network. These events marked an unnatural interlude in one of the world’s oldest trade routes.
Today, however, this ancient corridor is being revived by a confluence of geopolitical and economic factors. A new India and a transforming Middle East appear committed to restoring their old historic legacy.
India’s dramatic economic rise has positioned it as a key player in global trade. Over the past three decades, India has transformed itself into one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies. Between 1991, when India initiated economic liberalization, and 2022, its GDP grew from approximately $270 billion to over $3.7 trillion, making it the fifth-largest economy globally. Moreover, the country is projected to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030, with an estimated GDP of $7.3 trillion. This transformation has been driven by a combination of demographic advantage, a thriving services sector, and growing manufacturing capacity.
As India “returns” to the world stage, it is once again driving the revival of Indo-Mediterranean trade. This resurgence was formalized in 2023 with the announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) at the G20 Summit. The corridor, connecting India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Europe, represents a modern realization of the ancient Golden Road. IMEC, supported by eight founding signatories—India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, Germany, the European Union, and the United States—blends infrastructure development with strategic energy projects and digital connectivity. Unlike other initiatives focused solely on infrastructure, IMEC aims to foster seamless trade and development by addressing long-standing logistical inefficiencies. It incorporates ship-road-railway networks, energy pipelines, and digital fiber optic connections, making the Indo-Mediterranean a critical axis in global commerce. At the same time, the Suez Canal remains the central artery for the Indo-Mediterranean trade. IMEC proposes to augment it through road and rail infrastructure spanning the Arabian Peninsula, linking ports on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through Haifa in Israel.
Three major peninsular “pillars”—India, the Arabian Peninsula, and Italy—are well positioned to anchor and drive this New Golden Road. Mumbai, Dubai, and Trieste serve as the key port cities and logistical engines for this resurgent historic trade network.
Mumbai, centrally located on India’s west coast, is the country’s leading financial, logistics, digital, and cultural hub. As the western anchor of India’s quadrilateral trade and transit corridor (Mumbai–Delhi–Kolkata–Chennai), Mumbai’s influence stretches from Mundra, India’s largest private port in Gujarat, to the historic spice port of Kochi along the Malabar Coast.
Dubai, historically a trading post between India and Persia, has leveraged its geography and polity to become the region’s foremost trade hub. Its ruler declared it a free port in 1901, setting the stage for its rise. Today, Dubai’s financial and logistical strength underpins the growth of ports across the region, from Aqaba to Kuwait. Dubai Ports World operates as a leading port authority across the region, while Dubai invests heavily in its shipyards to produce vessels for Indian Ocean states, including Bahrain and Indonesia. As the middle node of the New Golden Road, Dubai is also well-positioned to facilitate trade with Central Asia and Africa, further enhancing the region’s interconnectedness.
In Trieste, Italy, the New Golden Road finds its northern terminus, the Adriatic gateway to Europe’s industrial heartland. As the most strategically positioned Mediterranean port for connecting Central and Eastern Europe to the Indo-Mediterranean, Trieste plays a pivotal role in this revived trade network. Its unique location and historical legacy make it not just a key asset for Italy but a cornerstone of Europe’s broader economic and geopolitical ambitions. This significance demands closer attention, as Trieste’s resurgence may define the future of European engagement with the Indo-Mediterranean world.
The City at the Center of Europe
Trieste occupies a singular position on the European map, lying at the crossroads of three major geographic and cultural regions. To its west lies the Italian Peninsula, representing the Latin world and providing access to Mediterranean commerce, Roman legal traditions, and a shared cultural heritage stretching from Iberia to the Americas. To its southeast stretches the Balkan Peninsula, a region defined by Slavic nations and marked by enduring influences from the Ottoman and Byzantine empires, where Middle Eastern and Turkish cultural currents are most keenly felt. To its north and northeast lies Mitteleuropa, the Germanic-influenced heartland of Central Europe, characterized by industrial ingenuity, world-class manufacturing, and historical ties to the Habsburg monarchy. This unique intersection places Trieste at the geographic and geopolitical center of Europe, where Latin, Slavic, and Germanic influences converge, reflecting centuries of trade, diplomacy, and cultural interchange.
Such a location is thus ideal for a port city strategically positioned at the northernmost point of the Adriatic Sea. It commands access to the Mediterranean while serving as the primary maritime outlet for the inland regions of Central Europe. Its proximity to key overland routes linking the Adriatic to the Danube basin, the Alps, and beyond has long made it a natural hub for trade and communication. From this vantage point, Trieste connects vast hinterlands to global maritime routes, facilitating the flow of goods, ideas, and cultures between Europe and the broader world. The city’s sheltered harbor and deep waters further enhance its suitability as a logistical and commercial nexus, making it a keystone in any power’s strategy for controlling, or at the very least influencing, trade in the region.
Though Trieste’s history stretches back to antiquity, its rise to prominence as a major port began in earnest in 1719 when it was designated a free port by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. This status exempted the city from customs duties, transforming it into a magnet for traders and merchants from across the Mediterranean and beyond. Trieste rapidly evolved into a bustling hub of commerce, attracting Italian, Germanic, Slavic, and Jewish communities who contributed to its cosmopolitan character. Even now, the city boasts the second-largest synagogue in Europe.
By the nineteenth century, Trieste had surpassed Venice as the dominant port of the northern Adriatic. While Venice’s influence waned with the decline of its maritime empire, Trieste thrived under the Habsburgs’ protection and economic statecraft. The city became the headquarters for major shipping enterprises such as the Lloyd Triestino. Its port handled a vast array of goods, from textiles and timber to coffee and spices, cementing its role as the primary gateway for the empire’s exports and imports. During this period, Trieste exemplified the Habsburg model of leveraging economic pragmatism and multiculturalism to foster prosperity, making it an indispensable asset for one of Europe’s great powers.
Trieste’s fortunes, however, began to waver following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. Transferred to Italy under the Treaty of Saint-Germain in 1919, the city lost not only its political patronage but also much of its economic hinterland as newly independent Central European nations, such as Austria and Hungary, reoriented their trade networks. The interwar period further strained the city’s economy as rising nationalist tensions and the global economic downturn constrained its ability to serve as a thriving hub for regional commerce. World War II and the subsequent redrawing of Europe’s borders compounded the damage, culminating in the Cold War’s division of Europe. The Iron Curtain effectively cut Trieste off from its traditional trade partners to the north and east, leaving it isolated and marginalized.
During this era, Genoa emerged as Italy’s dominant port due to its geographic orientation and historical role in transatlantic trade, which only grew in importance. Positioned on Italy’s northwestern coast, Genoa became the natural gateway for Italian exports and imports to and from the Americas, aligning with the geopolitical and economic priorities of the Cold War. Its integration into Italy’s national economy further cemented its status as the country’s principal port, catering to domestic industries and maritime trade routes favored by Italy’s postwar allies. By contrast, Trieste’s location—optimized for linking Central Europe to the Mediterranean—left it underutilized in a world increasingly shaped by Atlantic-focused trade and Italian domestic considerations. This economic and political dynamic left Trieste, which thrives as a gateway to Mitteleuropa, with a diminished role in both national and international commerce during much of the twentieth century.
The end of the Cold War and the subsequent unification of Germany, coupled with the liberation of Central and Eastern Europe from Soviet rule, breathed new life into Trieste’s fortunes. The expansion of the European Union eastward—bringing countries like Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia into its fold—reinvigorated the free port’s economic hinterland, unlocking access to one of Europe’s fastest-growing regions. Central and Eastern Europe has seen remarkable economic progress over the past three decades. Consider Poland, for instance. In 1990, Poland’s GDP was around $65.98 billion. By 2022, it had risen to approximately $689.76 billion. Slovakia and Hungary, similarly, have achieved consistent annual GDP growth rates of approximately 4 percent since the early 2000s. This has fueled a surge in manufacturing, with the region becoming a hub for industries like automotive production, electronics, and machinery. In 2022, the value of industrial output in Central Europe exceeded €350 billion, highlighting the area’s rising economic clout and demonstrating growth that outpaces Western Europe’s rate of growth.
This regional economic dynamism has spurred renewed interest in efficient transport and trade routes, making Trieste’s location increasingly relevant. The city’s deepwater port, capable of handling over 60 million tons of cargo annually, has become indispensable for the landlocked nations of central and eastern Europe seeking cost-effective access to global markets. Hungary, recognizing this strategic value, acquired a terminal in Trieste in 2019, investing heavily to ensure its industries have direct access to maritime trade. Similarly, Austria and the Czechia have enhanced rail and road links with the port, reflecting their reliance on Trieste for conveying their exports to international markets. Overall, Trieste once again appears headed, much like Rotterdam on the Atlantic, to offer unparalleled Mediterranean connectivity for industrial Europe. It is a lifeline for landlocked Eastern European nations seeking access to global markets to realize their economic potential.
This deepening reliance on Trieste by Austria, Czechia, and other Central European nations reflects a broader trend: the recognition of infrastructure and connectivity as critical drivers of economic integration. This growing need for improved transport and energy links has brought the Polish-led Three Seas Initiative (3SI) to the forefront of regional strategy. Encompassing thirteen EU member states between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black Seas, the initiative aims to bolster north-south infrastructure, energy, and digital networks across Central and Eastern Europe, fostering economic growth and resilience in the face of rising geopolitical pressures.
Trieste is uniquely positioned to serve as the Adriatic anchor for this ambitious project. As one of Europe’s most strategically located ports, Trieste provides a vital maritime outlet for the landlocked nations of the Three Seas region. It is integrated into four Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) corridors: the Baltic-Adriatic corridor (linking Trieste to the Polish Baltic ports of Gdansk and Gdynia), the Mediterranean corridor (connecting Spain to Hungary and Romania), the Rhine-Alpine corridor (spanning the Netherlands to Italy), and the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor (extending from Sweden to Italy). In addition, it serves as the primary port for oil imports destined for Munich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and Belgrade while receiving 70 percent of Turkey’s exports to Europe. All this enhances Trieste’s role as a logistical hub connecting the Adriatic with Central and Eastern Europe in linking the dynamic industrial economies of the Three Seas region to global markets.
The 3SI vision, it must be noted, includes reducing reliance on external powers like Russia for energy and creating robust regional alternatives to Chinese-led infrastructure projects. Trieste’s port facilities and rail connections complement these goals. As a gateway to Europe’s industrial heartland, the city is well-positioned to handle growing trade volumes stemming from increased cooperation within the 3SI. Hungary’s significant investment in a Trieste terminal exemplifies the kind of collaboration the initiative seeks to promote, with member nations pooling resources to create infrastructure that benefits the entire region.
This highlights another important reality: Trieste’s importance extends beyond economic considerations. It is increasingly relevant to NATO’s forward deployment posture, necessitating reliable military mobilization corridors along its eastern flank. As global trade relies on secure strategic ports, so too does military logistics. NATO’s new forward posture, adopted in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, underscores the urgent need to improve connectivity between its strategic ports on the Baltic (Gdansk), the Black Sea (Constanta), and the Adriatic (Trieste). In addition, Trieste’s economic hinterland aligns closely with the Danube watershed, positioning it as a crucial link between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The Danube, Europe’s longest river, flows west to east across this hinterland and has the potential to rival—or even surpass—the Rhine as a major transport artery. Mobilizing the Danube as a robust economic and security corridor should be a European priority, not only for sound economic reasons but also as a strategic measure to ensure European access to the Black Sea, which is increasingly under threat of becoming a Russian lake.
Ultimately, Trieste’s renewed importance reflects a broader trend: the future of Central and Eastern Europe is increasingly tied to its ability to access global markets efficiently, for economic benefit, and to be capable of strategic resilience given a changing threat environment. As the “one true European port on the Mediterranean,” Trieste is not only reconnecting with its historical hinterland but also emerging as a vital player in Europe’s economic and strategic future.
And make no mistake: Trieste alone, among the array of prominent national port cities of the North Mediterranean—from Piraeus to Genoa, from Marseilles to Barcelona—can lay claim to be constitutionally a European free port. Geographically, as noted before, it is best situated to access the European industrial heartland across Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Czechia, and more. Historically, it was and remains the main marine gateway of the old Austro-Hungarian empire. This, in turn, has made the city a cultural melting pot of Italian, Germanic, Slavic, and Greek people and traditions—a true microcosm of Europe.
Moreover, Trieste’s claim as the “one true European port on the Mediterranean,” the entrepôt for the New Golden Road, is further bolstered by its reputation as a city of knowledge and science. The free port hosts more than thirty advanced scientific research institutes, boasting the highest density of researchers in Europe. These institutions, primarily focused on advanced science, provide a robust foundation for the city to grow into one of Europe’s premier research hubs for applied science and technology. Historically, the Golden Road facilitated the exchange of Indian science, astronomy, and mathematics with the Middle East and Europe. In the digital era, science and technology exchanges along the New Golden Road are poised to play an even more transformative role.
However, one must think more broadly than just Trieste; a city is only as strong as the region surrounding it. Trieste thus has both the opportunity and obligation to not only serve its economic hinterland but also to catalyze the development of its sister Adriatic ports, from Taranto to Venice to Monfalcone, Koper, and Rijeka. By fostering a rich network of interconnected ports along the Adriatic, Trieste can amplify its role as the European anchor of the New Golden Road, advancing both Italian and broader European interests.
With this important future rapidly approaching, Trieste’s industry and political leaders are readily preparing the free port for a more pronounced role in European and world maritime trade and commerce. The city’s port is undergoing significant expansion, supported by investments from Europe’s leading trade and logistics companies, including the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), Hamburg Port and Logistics (HHLA), and Adria Port. These developments include the deployment of state-of-the-art technology to handle diverse cargo types—containers, bulk goods, specialized freight, and more. Trieste already ranks as the leading Mediterranean oil port, third in Europe for short-sea shipping, and eighth in total tonnage. By 2026, the annual number of trains handled by the port is expected to increase from 10,000 to over 25,000, further cementing its logistical primacy.
In both substantive and symbolic terms then, Trieste stands as a testament to the European project, embodying the ideals of free innovation, trade, and connectivity that define the continent’s aspirations. As a European terminus of the New Golden Road, it bridges the Indo-Mediterranean economies with that of Europe, serving both as a logistical powerhouse and a beacon of integration. Yet, despite all this, Trieste’s strategic importance extends beyond European ambitions. In an era marked by the resurgence of great power competition, the city’s pivotal role has once again attracted the attention of the United States, which increasingly views Trieste as a vital asset in the contest for influence across Europe, the Indo-Mediterranean corridor, and beyond.
Trieste as a Transatlantic and Indo-Pacific Priority
Washington’s interest in a strong and resilient Europe, capable of contributing more to its own defense and bolstering its economic stability, will only grow in the coming years. A robust eastern front—both in defense capabilities and economic dynamism—is essential for achieving America’s broader goal of fostering a Europe that can carry its weight as a key partner against shared adversaries.
The European Union and its forward-looking member states share a similar vision. Strengthening the cohesion of newer eastern members within the European project, enhancing defense production, and expanding military capabilities are high priorities for the new European Commission. The potential integration of Ukraine into the EU, alongside improved infrastructure connectivity, will bring heightened urgency and focus to Eastern Europe. The commission’s composition underscores this commitment, with its diplomatic, defense, trade, technology, economic, and international partnership portfolios represented by commissioners from Central, Eastern, and Southern European nations. A strong and resilient Eastern Europe serves not only as a gateway to the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia but also to North and East Africa.
The converging interests of the United States and Europe face the growing challenge of an antagonistic China-Russia-Iran-North Korea nexus— now dubbed “the Axis of Upheaval” by geostrategic thinkers in Washington—which seeks to undermine transatlantic leadership and the rules-based international order. This situation calls for a reaffirmation of transatlantic solidarity and a new project of appropriate scale and ambition to address the geoeconomic challenges. Such an initiative must advance “America First” and “Europe First” values while fortifying the free and open spaces of Europe and the Indo-Pacific. It should enhance defense preparedness and economic resilience from Finland to Romania, Poland to Italy, and beyond, linking the region to the thriving economies of India and the Middle East. This effort needs to weave the connectivity of the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic seas into a cohesive network that strengthens European defenses and drives economic integration, all while reinvigorating the Indo-Mediterranean trade network—the New Golden Road.
In Central and Eastern Europe, the United States faces a convergence of interests, opportunities, and challenges not unlike those it encountered in Western Europe after World War II. Then, it responded with the Marshall Plan, securing markets for American industry while countering adversarial influence. Today, the region offers similarly expansive opportunities for U.S. investment in defense production, digital connectivity, quality infrastructure, and services alongside its growing and vibrant markets. The region’s ideological and strategic alignment with American interests presents a generational opportunity. A bold U.S.-EU initiative to connect Central-Eastern Europe to the Indo-Mediterranean, with extensions to the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Africa, would rival and exceed China’s mercantilist Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in scope and impact.
India, Japan, and Australia—the Indo-Pacific Quad partners of the United States—would enthusiastically support such a transatlantic push to link the Indo-Pacific and transatlantic theaters through a resilient Indo-Mediterranean bridge. This vision requires a key lynchpin: Trieste. Without the city, the New Golden Road cannot achieve its full potential in efficiency, connectivity, or resilience. The Adriatic, from the days of Rome, Venice, and Vienna, has served as Europe’s maritime gateway to the Indo-Mediterranean trade. Today, it holds even greater significance as Europe seeks to restore security and economic stability along its eastern front. Trieste is essential for granting Central and Eastern European nations critical access to the sea, enabling them to fulfill their economic and security aspirations. As a result, the prominence of Trieste’s free port will only grow in importance across capitals on both sides of the Atlantic and throughout the Indo-Mediterranean region.
The European Keystone
Trieste, once a forgotten outpost during the Cold War, is now poised to play a central role in the revival of the Golden Road. It is uniquely positioned to anchor, connect, and catalyze both Central-Eastern Europe and the Indo-Mediterranean economies. Its role is of particular importance to the Danube region, which has historically served as a keystone for European stability and integration. The concept of a “keystone”—a vital element that holds together broader structures—perfectly encapsulates Trieste’s potential. In the twenty-first century, one could argue that Trieste is not merely a gateway but the keystone of the European project, bridging regions and enabling prosperity through connectivity.
The city’s rich cultural tapestry and unique confluence of influences further reinforce its symbolic importance. Few cities embody Europe’s spirit of interconnectedness quite like Trieste. It is a city where Italian elegance brushes shoulders with Slavic resilience and Germanic industry. It carries the imprint of empires, revolutions, and renaissances. Its grand boulevards whisper of Habsburg opulence while its bustling port hums with the echoes of Venetian traders and Ottoman merchants. Trieste’s historical legacy is not merely a patchwork but a living mosaic, each piece contributing to the city’s identity as a place where boundaries dissolve and cultures converge. It is this amalgamation of identities that makes Trieste a microcosm of the European project—a continent striving to harmonize unity and diversity with progress and tradition.
But Trieste is more than just a reflection of Europe’s past; it is a mirror for its aspirations. In its streets and harbors lies the promise of what Europe can achieve when it embraces collaboration over fragmentation and the joining of tradition and ambition. However, realizing Trieste’s potential—as a geoeconomic keystone, as a center of innovation, and as a beacon of Europe’s future—requires robust support at multiple levels. The strategic importance of Trieste has not gone unnoticed. In recent history, Vladimir Putin has visited the free port, and the Chinese Communist Party has tried to enroll it in its Belt and Road Initiative.
Yet, Trieste’s—and Italy’s—most enduring bond has been with the United States, a relationship dating back to America’s earliest days. In 1807, an aide to the Marquis de Lafayette extolled the virtues of Trieste in a letter, calling it “the Philadelphia of Europe,” a port embodying the pioneering spirit on the Old Continent. He envisioned a future where “bankers, industrialists, ship-owners, and shopkeepers” would shape the city’s destiny. Karl Marx, writing half a century later, echoed this sentiment. If Venice was a city of memories, he wrote, then Trieste had become the starting point of the new flourishing Adriatic navigation because “it had, like the United States, the advantage of not possessing any past.”
This kinship between Trieste and the American spirit is further evidenced by its role as the site of the second U.S. consulate in Europe, authorized by President George Washington in 1797. By the 1800s, maritime trade flourished between Trieste and American cities from Savannah to Philadelphia to Boston, with cotton as a primary export. Trieste also became a hub for enterprising American seamen ferrying arms shipments to Central American insurgents opposing Spanish colonial rule. In 1869, U.S. Consul Alexander Thayer published a monograph advocating for Trieste’s development as an international maritime hub by emphasizing rail connections and diplomatic ties to Central Europe. The completion of the Vienna-Trieste rail link and the opening of the Suez Canal fulfilled much of this vision, and by 1906, the U.S. consul described Trieste as “undoubtedly the busiest consulate in Austria.” The city’s dynamism even hosted Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show that year, symbolizing its global allure. Not long after, the Habsburg government launched an Austro-American shipping line to ferry immigrants to the promise of America.
After World War I, American negotiators at Versailles sought to secure Trieste as a free city to preserve its historic role as a marine gateway for Central Europe. This vision reemerged after World War II when the city was administered as a Free Territory under Allied protection from 1947 to 1954. Integrated into Italy thereafter, Trieste substantially benefitted from the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan), importing over a million tons of goods annually from the United States during the 1950s. However, the Iron Curtain cut Trieste off from its Central European hinterland, diminishing its international prominence. The American consulate downgraded to a consular agency in 1986 and closed in 2006, ending 209 years of U.S. diplomatic representation. However, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the integration of Eastern Europe into the market economy, and the accession of several of them to NATO reinvigorated its economic hinterland, representing a new dawn for Trieste. Trieste’s continued ascendancy as a port of strategic interest may very well persuade Washington to reopen its consulate in the free port in the near future to convey once again American interest both in substance and symbolism.
Yet, while the United States can provide valuable support to renew Trieste in the context of the New Gold Road, local leadership must take the initiative. Concrete actions, such as streamlining customs at the port, improving rail and diplomatic links to Central Europe, and fostering partnerships with European industry, are critical to ensuring Trieste’s future success. One particularly symbolic step would be to host a major international summit in Trieste to announce its new dawn, with the participation of European, American, and Indo-Mediterranean statesmen and industry champions. By focusing on its role as Europe’s keystone in the IMEC, the summit would spotlight Trieste’s strategic importance and cement the Trieste-Dubai-Mumbai strategic alignment, catalyzing investment and collaboration across the three cities.
It is thus apt that organizing and hosting such a summit would fall well within the spirit of Trieste. Through the tribulations of history and the fluctuating attention of American, Italian, European, and global powers, the entrepreneurial spirit of Triestinos has remained steadfast. This enduring vitality, this spirit, drives the regional president to actively promote investment in the city and region, from the United States to Japan. It also inspires the city’s intrepid business families to collaborate on initiatives like the Trieste-Mumbai-Dubai partnership, propelling the New Golden Road forward.
A century and a half ago, Pasquale Revoltella, a native of Trieste, joined Ferdinand de Lesseps in the grand project to construct the Suez Canal. In doing so, he wasn’t just a financier—he was a visionary. Revoltella understood that the canal would revolutionize global trade, transforming Trieste into a linchpin between Europe and the vast markets of Asia and Africa. As vice president of the Suez Canal Company and a benefactor to the project, his legacy is a living reminder of Trieste’s entrepreneurial spirit and historic significance in Indo-Mediterranean trade.
Today, history is offering Trieste a chance to reprise its role as a strategic hub of connectivity. And it is Revoltella’s spiritual heirs—the business and political leaders of Trieste—who carry on his legacy, working to reinvigorate the New Golden Road and establish Trieste as a keystone in connecting Central-Eastern Europe to the Indo-Mediterranean. History rarely repeats itself, but in Trieste’s case, the echoes of its past are shaping a promising future.
Kaush Arha is president of the Free & Open Indo-Pacific Forum and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue.
Carlos Roa is a Visiting Fellow and Director of the Keystone Initiative at the Danube Institute and an Associate Washington Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy. He is the former executive editor of The National Interest and remains a contributing editor of that publication.
Image: Andrew Mayovskyy / Shutterstock.com.