A kilometre of white stones and limestone ledges between the old Sistiana quarry and the former Hotel Europa, in the bilingual comune of Duino-Aurisina. There is no road down to it, no bar, no sunbed and no fence: only footpaths from the Strada Costiera or from Sistiana Mare, and a handmade sign reading “FKK — zona naturista”. Naturists have used this shore since the late 1970s, and to this day they share it with clothed bathers along several kilometres of free beach.
At a glance
- Type
- Free rocky and pebble shore; naturist (FKK) stretch
- Where
- Between the Sistiana quarry and the former Hotel Europa, Duino-Aurisina / Devin-Nabrežina, Province of Trieste
- Coordinates
- 45.7624° N, 13.6371° E
- Access
- On foot only, by coastal path or by the steep paths off the SS14
- Naturist use since
- the late 1970s
- Facilities
- None. No bar, no cabins, no lifeguard
- Admission
- Free
Overview
Duino-Aurisina — Devin-Nabrežina in Slovene — is a scattered comune of the Province of Trieste, born in 1928 from the merger of five villages: Duino, Aurisina, Malchina, San Pelagio and Slivia. Its territory is Karst: bare white limestone that breaks off towards the northernmost inlet of the whole Adriatic, with the Mediterranean scrub of the Costiera Triestina clinging to it.
The Costa dei Barbari is one stretch of that shoreline. There is nothing of the sandy Adriatic here: no cabins, no deckchairs, no rows of umbrellas of the sort that fill nearby Grado and Lignano, but a thin band of rock and white pebbles running from the Sistiana quarry to the Ginestre, reached only by climbing down.
History
The naturist culture of Trieste is far older than this beach. The historical account kept by the Liburnia association names its local forerunners one by one: Augusto Guastalla in 1847, the naturopath Arnoldo Rikli, who lived and practised in Trieste in the second half of the nineteenth century, Tullio Cordon in 1923, and Ernesto Guido Gorischegg, born in Graz and naturalised Triestine, who from 1927 published articles on Freikörperkultur in the Triestine magazines Fiamma Triestina and Fiamma Italica and set up an autonomous section in the city in 1931. The thread is Central European, and it belongs to the city rather than to any one shore.
The beach itself is much more recent. Until the 1970s the naturists of Trieste were guests of the campsites on the Yugoslav coast; it was towards the end of that decade that they began to use their own shoreline, settling at the Filtri di Aurisina and at the Costa dei Barbari. Their association had been founded a few years earlier: after a first public appeal published in 1963 in the “Segnalazioni” column of the Trieste daily Il Piccolo by Fabio Gregorat, four friends — Fabio and Sergio Gregorat, Romano Mantani and Dario Vidmar — signed the founding deed before the notary Lassiani on 16 September 1968. They named it Liburnia, after the Liburni, the pre-Roman seafarers of the Quarnero.
The beginnings were not peaceful. When the police launch went past, everyone ran for their swimming costume; there were raids and charges, and the association provided legal assistance to those prosecuted. In 1979 an officer landed at the Costa dei Barbari with his pistol drawn — the photograph ended up in the newspapers — and, surrounded by the bathers, fired a shot into the air. Little by little naturism here became an acquired right, and the patrol boats went back to checking that pleasure craft kept their distance from the rocks.
What you see
A shoreline of white and grey Karst limestone, with natural ledges and platforms at water level and juniper and maquis behind, bent by the bora. The most frequented stretch is marked by a small concrete hut built on a large boulder beside the coastal path, and by a little beach of white stones closed off by the remains of a white concrete jetty and a few big limestone blocks.
A handmade sign announces the naturist zone, and states its rules plainly: no clothes, no photographs, no shouting, and take your rubbish home with you. Naturist and clothed bathers share the same kilometres of free beach, with no fences and no separation other than habit and courtesy.
Cultural significance
The coast has resisted the development that reshaped most of the northern Adriatic, and that is precisely what people defend in it: the Spiaggia e Costa dei Barbari at Sistiana has been put forward in ten editions of the FAI census I Luoghi del Cuore, from 2003 to 2022 — the Italian public vote for the places worth saving.
360° photos
Video
Practical information
- Free access, all year round. There are no services of any kind: bring water, sun protection and shoes that grip on wet rock.
- Photography is not allowed on the naturist stretch. It is a rule of the place, not a suggestion.
- There is no lifeguard and no easy way back up in a hurry; the descent is steep and the stones are slippery after rain.
Getting there
By car from Trieste, along the Strada Costiera (SS14): at Sistiana, in front of the Pasticceria Costa dei Barbari, there is a paid car park on a disused stretch of road on the sea side, and several paths drop from there to the shore. A second access is from the village of Marina d’Aurisina, where parking is very limited.
From below, drive down to Sistiana Mare as far as the Castelreggio restaurant — paid parking in summer — and take the coastal path that starts just after it. The path skirts a quarry still in operation and then runs close to the water until an old iron gate: the Costa dei Barbari begins there. Allow 20–30 minutes by car from the centre of Trieste, plus the walk.
Sources
- Associazione Naturista Umanista Liburnia, Trieste — Le spiagge and La storia del naturismo a Trieste e in Italia (from D. Agnoli, Storia del Naturismo in Italia, 2nd ed. 1999–2000): liburniats.org
- PromoTurismoFVG — Spiagge FKK, Discover Trieste: discover-trieste.it
- FAI – Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano, I Luoghi del Cuore: “Spiaggia e Costa dei Barbari a Sistiana”, Duino-Aurisina (Trieste).
- Cultural Heritage Online historical archive — original Italian entry on beniculturalionline.it, verified and rewritten in August 2026.
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