Castello di Duino

Fourteen kilometres northwest along the coast from Miramare, this 14th- and 15th-century bastion picturesquely marches down the cliff, surrounded by a verdant garden and mind-blowing views. Poet Rainer Maria Rilke was a guest here during the winter of 1911–12, a melancholy and windswept stay which produced the Duino Elegies. The castle is still in private hands and the collection is idiosyncratic to say the least, but delightfully so. To get here, take bus 41 from Trieste's Piazza Oberdan.