Things to do
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Castello di Miramare
A white castle built on a spit of rock for Archduke Maximilian in the 1850s, with its park and its interiors left as he furnished them. He left it to become emperor of Mexico and was shot there. The park around it is free and open daily.
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Grotta Gigante
A single chamber large enough to hold a basilica, and for years the largest show cave in the world by that measure. Five hundred steps go down into it and the temperature stays around eleven degrees whatever the season. The cave is reached by bus or tram from the city below.
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Piazza Unita d'Italia
The largest sea-facing square in Europe, closed on three sides by Habsburg civic architecture and open on the fourth to the Adriatic. It is the centre of the city's evening. The cafes along one side put tables out across the stone from spring onwards.
