Piazza S. Antonio, together with Canale di
Ponterosso, constitutes one of the symbolic places which are fundamental to
Trieste's city planning and architecture.
This is an icon, one of the postcard landscapes
frequently used to describe and illustrate the city and Borgo Teresiano, which
is its most representative district.
The site dates back to the beginning of the
nineteenth-century. The church, by Pietro Nobile, was built evoking the
classical world; it is a model of models.
The structure, the "schematic data" of
architecture, the type, architectural choice, inevitably trace back to the
referential classical antiquity in constructing an urban image of which the
city takes possession.
It is the use of thermal windows on side fronts,
building methods, technical and stylistic processes, as well as wall denseness
which are the elements putting the building to verify authentic models.
Therefore the hexastyle pronaos of Ionic order
dates back to the temple of Atena Poliate
of Athens, such as to Giuseppe Valadier's studies on classical
antiquity; and other influences can be also be explicitly visible in the
Pantheon and in the Basilica of Maxentius.

As for the site, it might be said that the same
masterfully interprets the Vitruvian teachings in a disposition of the parts:
the planimetric map, the elevations, the setting, give an unchangeable image to
the context.
A context made of composed and elegant buildings,
none of them stands out.
From these reflections the idea of designing
Piazza S. Antonio was born. An idea that wants to continue the Renovation
Masters' teaching. This approach wants to be like that of Alberti for the
Malatesta Temple of Rimini, and the same Valadier for the Arch of Titus and St
Paul Outside the Walls, an approach which reinterprets antique in contemporary
space, tracing back to Viollet le Duc's teaching.
In this way, not only the planning approach, which
is in formal continuity with the generality of the small village, but also the
use of the most suitable materials strive for congruence, calmness, solidity
and continuity in renewal.
To the square is bestowed its character of
"square", prestige and usefulness which correspond to the theme and
needs.
In the planimetric drawing, the rythm of the
colonnade is traced back on sandstone paving; this draws known structures in
continuity with the city's image.
Like recent interventions such as that of Huet for
Piazza dell'Unità, or repaving many of the
pedestrian streets which merge here, the project does not seek sensation
or wanton transgressions. It seeks composure. It also seeks mimesis, such as in
eloquent similar cases (Place Vendome in Paris, Piazza Montecitorio in Rome).
It seeks to hide, and we think it succeeds excellently, the car park
underneath.
The two entrance and exit ramps of the car park
are contained by glazed, transparent, almost imperceptible parapets, such as it
is for the stairs. Sober and minimal facilities complete the intervention. The
lighting is delegated to lamps which reflect on the lines of the existing
perspective axes, along the channels on the columns to enhance the perspective
qualities of the place.
A pavement lighting along the limestone paths
emphasizes the presence of the square and the church giving plasticity and
depth to the colonnade.
For the site, it deals with the (re)invention of a
square, of a site suitable for the context. The use of water tanks (simulated
canals) has been avoided on purpose. This avoids deception in cultural terms
and favours the multi-functional use of the place; in this way it becomes suitable
to house the most diverse spectacles.
And still, from a point of view of right
management and maintenance of the sites, the project has looked for the utmost
functionality in the maintenance simplicity.
Archaeological considerations
The planning area is situated in the centre of
Borgo Teresiano, a small village built in the eighteenth-century on the
salt-mines, extending from Porta di Risorgo (current Largo Risorgo) towards
north-east. The reclamed area had never housed any building construction. On
the other hand it deals with a re-interment area of the final stretch of Canale
di Ponterosso, once extending up to the Chiesa di S.Antonio.
For the above reasons, any archaeological
interference has therefore to be excluded. Similarly the project neither
envisages interference with the existing environmental structures, nor
endangers them in any way.