Giardini Europa

Muggia's Giardini Europa form a green public space among the town's cultural buildings, with a kinetic bronze by Ugo Carà and the modern town library.

Why it matters

The Giardini Europa form part of Muggia's civic and cultural landscape. The gardens are associated with the Biblioteca Comunale Edoardo Guglia, the Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi and the Casa delle Associazioni.

What to notice

The gardens contain L'altalena, a kinetic bronze by Ugo Carà dating to 1980. The Biblioteca Comunale Edoardo Guglia occupies a purpose-built building dating to 2016, designed by Eugenio Meli with terraces across three levels. Modern civic architecture and the older town beyond reflect Muggia's development across different periods.

Context and history

Muggia's story runs from the hilltop borgo of Muggia Vecchia down to the port, and the Giardini Europa belong to the newest chapter of that descent. The medieval town fortifies itself on the slopes; the modern town spreads along the shore of the Gulf of Trieste; and in the twentieth century the stretch behind Via Roma is set aside as public greenery for a growing community of shipyard workers and fishermen.

The cultural quarter matured around the gardens in recent decades. The Teatro Comunale Giuseppe Verdi anchors one side. The Biblioteca Comunale Edoardo Guglia, after decades in other premises, gained its dedicated new building within the gardens in 2016 — a purpose-designed edifice by architect Eugenio Meli, realised with the decisive support of the Fondazione CRTrieste and arranged over three levels with panoramic terraces. The Museo d'Arte Moderna Ugo Carà, inaugurated in 2006 to house the sculptor's donation to the Comune, completed the ensemble with a building whose teak and corten cladding nods to Muggia's shipbuilding past. The naming of the gardens for Europe fits a border town whose horizon has always run towards Istria and the wider Adriatic.