Coppedè: the fairytale quarter and the streets around it
A pocket of fantasy architecture — the Frog Fountain, the Spider Palace — hidden in bourgeois Trieste. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. The arch on Via Dora
Enter the quarter through the great wrought-iron arch slung between two buildings, a huge lantern hanging from its centre. Stand under it before you go further; this is the threshold, and it tells you the rules have changed.

2. Piazza Mincio & the Fountain of the Frogs
The heart of Coppedè, a small square built around the *Fontana delle Rane*, where stone frogs spout into a basin. The Beatles supposedly jumped in fully clothed after a gig at the Piper club nearby. Sit on the rim and take the whole square in.

3. Palazzo del Ragno (the Spider Palace)
On the square's edge, the building with a great spider set into its facade above the door, all Assyrian and medieval motifs mashed together. Look up for the gargoyles; Gino Coppedè borrowed from everywhere and apologised to no one.

4. Villini delle Fate (the Fairy Houses)
The cluster of cottages on the square's north side, each elevation different — timber, brick, marble, frescoed saints and Florentine quotations. Walk slowly past all three faces; no two windows are alike.

5. Viale Regina Margherita
Step out of the fantasy onto the broad leafy avenue that frames Trieste — plane trees, liberty-style apartment blocks, the everyday grandeur the quarter sits inside. The contrast is the point: turn a corner and the spell breaks.

6. Piazza Verbano
A calm residential square a few minutes south, with a café or two under the trees and the unhurried feel of a neighbourhood that isn't on anyone's map. A good place to end with a coffee before walking back to the metro.

Coppedè: the fairytale quarter and the streets around it