A luminous Art Nouveau corner building on Corso Italia, designed by Romeo Depaoli for a prominent merchant family and anchored by elegant period storefronts.
At a glance
Casa Polacco stands at the intersection of Corso Italia and Via Imbriani, replacing a marketplace known as Piazza delle pignatte. Built in 1909 by architect Romeo Depaoli for Gisella Polacco, the structure blends commercial vitality at street level with refined domestic spaces above.
History
The site once held an open plaza where pottery vendors sold their wares—hence its vernacular name. Depaoli’s new building was commissioned to occupy this commercial void while preserving the urban fabric of Corso Italia. The ground floor and mezzanine housed successive tenants: the Grande Salone di Mode (equipped with one of the city’s first illuminated signs), the Italo Svevo bookshop, the Richard Ginori ceramics firm, and Banco di Napoli. The upper three floors served as residences for the Polacco family and, later, industrialist Gastone Dollinar, whose initials appear on a shield at the rounded corner entrance.
What you see
The facade demonstrates Art Nouveau restraint at ground level, where large display windows served commerce. Above, decoration intensifies across the three residential floors. Thistle leaves and pilasters frame openings; a projecting cornice enriches the upper facade. Window surrounds feature garlands and leafwork; a band of lion heads adds sculptural detail. Corinthian columns frame upper-floor windows. The signature rounded corner entrance, capped by a lunette shield, marks Depaoli’s sophisticated handling of the irregular site.
Cultural significance
Casa Polacco exemplifies early 20th-century Trieste’s commercial dynamism and architectural ambition. The building’s first luminous sign signals the city’s embrace of modern advertisement and retail display. As a mercantile and residential landmark on a major thoroughfare, it documents the integration of bourgeois shopfronts with family dwellings—a model that shaped central European urban architecture.
Key facts
- Designed by architect Romeo Depaoli, 1909
- Commissioned by Gisella Polacco
- Address: Corso Italia, 22, 34122 Trieste
- Coordinates: 45.6497125, 13.7755437
- Website: https://www.beniculturalionline.it/
Practical information
Opening hours and ticket prices change through the year, so we do not republish them here: the current ones are on beniculturalionline.it. What does not change is where it is: Corso Italia, 22, 34122, at 45.6497125, 13.7755437.
Getting there
Casa Polacco is located at Corso Italia, 22 in central Trieste. The building occupies a prominent corner intersection; public transport connections serve the Corso Italia corridor throughout the city.
Sources & resources
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