Palazzo Municipale, Trieste, Italy, 1880
[photo: Giueppe Wulz]
This is another postcard with a reproduced vintage photo on it. This one features the town hall with merchants, their carts and stalls in the square in front of the building. This amazing picture was taken in 1880 by Giuseppe Wulz. Wulz was an Italian artist/photographer born in 1843. He died at age 75 in 1918. His works have been offered at auction multiple times. The card is a product of the Civici Musei di Storia ed Arte. According to my friend, the building and square have not changed in more than 140 years, except for the addition of cars.
One of the things my friend and I both noticed immediately were the carts that are not horse drawn but pushed or pulled by people. Some of them, such as the cart at the upper right, are two wheeled, while others like the one in the middle, have four wheels. Canvas sheets stretched across poles provide shade for the merchants selling their wares. The carts appear to serve two purposes, one to transport the goods and second to display and act as a "shop" to sell the wares. Different views of the canvas shades can be observed. Ingenious, simple covers to offer shade and its coolness during the long hot days. Trieste is a port city, so there would be some sea breeze down by the water but perhaps not so much in front of the building and in the square where there do not seem to be any trees.
Before 1919 this square was known as Piazza Grande or the Great Square. Today it has been used as a concert venue with an attendance of 12,000 people for the 99 Revolutions Tour in 2013. The square is also used occasionally for visits of foreign heads of state and meetings.
Many thanks to my friend who sent the card, with comments!
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_Unit%C3%A0_d%27Italia
http://biblioteche.comune.trieste.it
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