Casa Polacco
Romeo Depaoli’s 1909 corner block on Corso Italia brought late-Liberty commercial typology to its Trieste standard: six storeys, Romeo Rathmann’s female statues on the pilasters, and a ground floor built to display.
At a glance
Casa Polacco occupies the corner of Corso Italia 22 and Via Imbriani, on the site of a former open space called Piazza delle pignatte after the small market once held there. Romeo Depaoli built it in 1909 for Gisella Polacco. The programme was commercial and residential: the ground floor and mezzanine were designed for display windows and shops, the upper levels for apartments. Among the first tenants was an illuminated shop sign — one of the earliest in Trieste — installed in the year the building opened.
Key facts
- Architect: Romeo Depaoli
- Client: Gisella Polacco
- Completed: 1908–09
- Address: Corso Italia 22 / Via Imbriani, 34122 Trieste
- Style: Liberty (late phase, Mitteleuropean register)
- Sculptor: Romeo Rathmann
- GPS: 45.6505, 13.7702
History
Romeo Depaoli was a Vienna-trained architect working in the same generation as Max Fabiani. His approach to Liberty was more decorative than Fabiani’s Secession austerity: figural sculpture, floral stone reliefs, and a disciplined compositional tautness against the corner. Casa Polacco became a commercial landmark on Corso Italia. Among its tenants were Italo Svevo’s publishing library and, for a period, a Richard-Ginori ceramics outlet — two names that place the building in the cultural and commercial life of Habsburg Trieste.
What you see
The decorative programme is by Romeo Rathmann, who also worked with Depaoli on Casa Terni-Smolars three years earlier. Female statues stand on the pilasters of the Corso Italia front. Floral stone reliefs frame the upper windows. The Mitteleuropean discipline is in the proportions: Depaoli held the building taut against the corner without the floral exuberance Sommaruga would later bring north from Milan. Walk around the corner to read the Via Imbriani elevation: the sculptural rhythm continues without breaking step.
Practical information
- Access: Ground-floor shops accessible during commercial hours; exterior free at any time
- Time needed: 10 minutes for exterior; combine with Casa Bartoli (80 m) and Casa Terni-Smolars (200 m)
Getting there
Corso Italia is Trieste’s main commercial boulevard, connecting Piazza della Borsa to the Borgo Teresiano. Casa Polacco is at n. 22, a 3-minute walk from Casa Bartoli (Piazza della Borsa).
Nearby
- Casa Bartoli (Max Fabiani, 1905) — 80 m south-east, Piazza della Borsa 7
- Casa Terni-Smolars (Romeo Depaoli, 1906) — 200 m east, Via Dante 6
- Palazzo della Banca di Praga (Costaperaria + Polívka, 1914) — 200 m north, Via Roma 7
Sources
- Catalogo.beniculturali.it: entry 0600007643
- Patrimonioculturale.regione.fvg.it: entry 444959 — Romeo Depaoli authorship, Corso Italia 22
- Wikimedia Commons: Casa Polacco photo, Geobia, CC BY-SA 4.0
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