Trieste is the smallest province in Italy, and perhaps also the most isolated. For evidence of this, simply take a look at any map: it consists of a thin stretch of land which runs between the sea and the upland plains which border the former Yugoslavia. The city's geographical isolation is reflected in its personality. It is at once lonely, mysterious, alluring, conservative, pensive, a little primitive, perennially tired and taciturn. Trieste is a beautiful and extraordinary city, anchored to a past that it can not forget. It is constantly battered by the Bora - an icy and powerful northeasterly wind, which is tolerated as an inevitable feature of life in Trieste.