For a long time, the construction of the Trieste free port was considered the result of a modernisation programme by Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg. This original myth has often been used to explain the subsequent history of the port of Trieste. Instead, it is more accurate to tone down the idea of personal vision and initiative and to recognise the complex interplay between many actors and interests. In this way, through the interaction between local figures and the larger Imperial constellation, one can explain the material constitution, political significance, and the commercial functioning of the Trieste free port. This chapter analyses the history and role of the free port of Trieste from its inception until the twenty-first century, highlighting changes in the spatial context and functions in relation to global economic and geopolitical changes. It focuses on some fundamental aspects, such as the construction of Imperial Trieste and its transformation at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the crisis of 1830–1840, the competition between the different poles of the Habsburg Empire, and the abolition of the free port and creation of free points at the end of the nineteenth century.
