A Forgotten Italian Port Could Become a Chinese Gateway to Europe.

[elleng]

*“Fundamentally, what’s happening is that the port of Trieste is returning to the logistical role for Europe that it had for the old Austro-Hungarian empire,” said Zeno D’Agostino, the president of the Trieste port authority, whose office is sprinkled with gifts from Chinese delegations and a book about European-Chinese cultural relations.

To walk through Trieste is to witness how the city has already opened to China. Chinese tourists shop for the city’s trademark Illy coffee and take pictures with their Huawei phones of the elegant Caffè Degli Specchi. A brand-new cruise ship, built in nearby shipyards expressly for Chinese passengers, is docked in the central waterfront piazza, preparing to set sail on Marco Polo’s path to the Far East.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/world/europe/italy-trieste-china-belt-road.html?

[EarnestPutz]

1. My Slovenian grandparents always maintained that Trieste had been stolen...

....from them by the Italians after the First World War.

[fierywoman]

2. Ummm... Marco Polo did not "sail" on the Silk Road to the far east! But, oh, YUM: Illy coffee.