Strada Vicentina (Vicentina Street), Trieste

Strada Vicentina (Vicentina Street) has its name from the engineer Giacomo Vicentini who designed the route and began construction in 1821. The current conformation is due to the improvement interventions carried out immediately after the Second World War.

They are about 3.7 kilometers on the karst edge, high above the sea, with wonderful views of Trieste and its gulf. The path is wide, practically flat (it goes from the 276 m asl of the Prosecco rocks to the 343 m of the Obelisk pitch in the locality of Opicina), and with a good surface (white road). The walk is sunny and sheltered from the bora, so it is pleasantly practicable even in winter.

A short detour at the beginning of the path leads to the Italia lookout at an altitude of 332 m, one of the many panoramic observation posts located along the edge of the Trieste Karst.

The beginning of the path is also characterized by several vertical rock walls where the rock climbers teach climbing and training on routes of varying difficulty.

Behind the beginning of the path stands the Marian sanctuary of Monte Grisa , with its characteristic truncated triangular shape. The sanctuary cannot be reached directly from the Napoleonica, but it can be reached either by paved road from Prosecco or from the Obelisk of Opicina via the Nicolò Cobolli path, which runs higher than the Napoleonica, but in the middle of the woods.

At the obelisk, at the end of the path, there is also a stop for the historic and panoramic Opicina tramway , which connects the center of the city of Trieste with the karst plateau with a steeply sloping route.

The Bertoloni forest which flanks the Napoleonic path - as explained by a panel affixed near the Obelisco stop of the Opicina tramway - is of artificial origin and dates back to the second half of the 19th century when the Municipality of Trieste started a reforestation project, with the home to plants of black pine , black hornbeam and canine cherry, from the Trieste Karst.