October 2022. As we wanted to test Trenitalia‘s Frecciarossa 1000 service from Paris to Milan, we planned a rail trip around it. From Antwerp to Paris with Thalys, the ‘Red Arrow’ to Milan and once in Italy continuing to Trieste and Bologna. The return trip took us to Basel in Switzerland to enjoy SBB‘s panoramic coach and Germany‘s Rhine route to Cologne. From there we got back to Belgium. 

Trieste has a rich geopolitical history. The city and the region Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Friuli-Julian Marches) were part of Habsburg Austria-Hungary for a while. 

Near Trieste is located Miramare Castle or Castello di Miramare.

Miramare Castle is a 19th-century castle direct on the Gulf of Trieste between Barcola and Grignano in Trieste. It was built from 1856 to 1860 for Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, later Emperor Maximilian I and Empress Carlota of Mexico, based on a design by Carl Junker.

The castle’s grounds include an extensive cliff and seashore park of 22 hectares (54 acres) designed by the archduke. The grounds were completely re-landscaped to feature numerous tropical species of trees and plants. 

Seaview House

Miramare Castle and its park were built by order of Ferdinand Maximilian (1832–1867),younger brother of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria. In 1850, at the age of eighteen, Maximilian came to Trieste with his brother Charles Louis and, immediately afterwards, he set off on a short cruise toward the Near East. This journey confirmed his intention to sail and to get to know the world. In 1852 he was appointed an officer and in 1854 he became Commander in Chief of the Imperial Navy. He decided to move to Trieste and to have a home built facing the sea and surrounded by a park worthy of his name and rank.

According to tradition, when the archduke was caught in a sudden storm in the Gulf, he took shelter in the little harbour of Grignano and he chose that bare rocky spur of limestone origin as the setting for his home. The whole complex, purchased for the first time at the beginning of March 1856, was called Miramar, possibly after the name of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Koháry’s residence in Pena, Portugal.

Designed in 1856 by Carl Junker, an Austrian architect, the architectural structure of Miramare was finished in 1860. The style reflects the artistic interests of the archduke, who was acquainted with the eclectic architectural styles of Austria, Germany and England. 

The craftsman Franz Hofmann and his son Julius, were entrusted with the furnishing and decorations. Hofmann, who worked in the city of Trieste, was a skillful artisan who was willing to follow Maximilian’s suggestions. Both the artisan and his patron had a similar cultural formation and they were well acquainted with the eclectic tendencies of the time.

The work, steadily supervised by Maximilian, was finished only after his departure in 1864 for Mexico; where after a brief reign as Emperor he was executed in June 1867. Maximilian intended to create an intimate atmosphere in the castle in the area reserved for his family – an area which he wanted to be in contact with nature, reflecting both his own spirit and that of an epoch.

Miramare Castle interior

On the ground floor, destined for the use of Maximilian and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium, worthy of note are the bedroom and the archduke’s office, which reproduce the cabin and the stern wardroom respectively of the frigate Novara, the war-ship used by Maximilian when he was Commander of the Navy to circumnavigate the world between 1857 and 1859; the library, whose walls are lined with bookshelves and the rooms of the Archduchess with their tapestry of light-blue silk. 

All the rooms still feature the original furnishings, ornaments, furniture and objects dating back to the middle of the 19th century. Many coats of arms of the Second Mexican Empire decorate the castle, as well as stone ornamentations on the exterior depicting the Aztec eagle.

The first floor includes guest reception areas and the Throne Room. Of note are the magnificent panelling on the ceiling and walls and the Chinese and Japanese drawing-rooms with their oriental furnishings. 

Of particular interest is the room decorated with paintings by Cesare Dell’Acqua, portraying events in the life of Maximilian and the history of Miramare. Currently, the rooms in the castle are mostly arranged according to the original layout decided upon by the royal couple. A valuable photographic reportage commissioned by the archduke himself made accurate reconstruction possible. 

Never really theirs

Maximilian never saw his castle completed and Charlotte did survive Mexico but went famously mad. Carlota did live with her two adopted sons in Miramare for a while. But she resided in the Castelletto or Gartenhaus. But she was ‘rescued’ and moved back to Belgium in 1867.

Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta

After Trieste became part of Italy after World War I, Prince Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta used Miramare as his home. He left the state rooms as they were, but did (try to) erase references to the Habsburgs in many rooms. 

Prince Amadeo and his wife Princess Anne of Orléans had contemporary taste. Their interior is 1920s ‘sober and simple’ and they use a lovey blue-green-aquamarine colour scheme. 

Oddly, the English texts of the exhibition do call Amadeo a prince, while the Italian explanations don’t. 

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Paris – Italy – Basel 2022

1. REVIEW | Restaurant Le Train Blue at Paris-Gare-de-Lyon.
2. REVIEW | Trenitalia Frecciarossa 1000 Paris – Milan in Business Executive.
3. REVIEW | Just Hotel Milano.
4. FYRA NOSTALGIA | Trenitalia Frecciargento Milan to Trieste on the ETR 700 ex-Fyra.
5. REVIEW | Grand Hotel Duchi d’Aosta.