Trieste welcomes visitors with signs declaring "Trieste - home of the Barcolana". This historic regatta has taken place here every second weekend in October since 1969 and has become the event which best expresses the character of the whole area. The Barcolana is unique because it sees both professionals of international standing and skilled amateurs in competition for the Autumn Cup (Coppa d'Autunno). Hundreds of craft, great and small, compete side-by-side without distinction, combining seamanship and genuine sailing pleasure.
The boats start together from the Riviera which gives its name to the event and, if the wind is right, when the traditional cannon-shot opens the race hundreds upon hundreds of billowing sails turn the deep blue of the Gulf into a spectacular, moving, white train. It is a truly heart-stopping moment, both for those taking part and for the thousands of spectators who watch the race from the city shoreline or from along the Carso cliffs around the Gulf.
The Barcolana is, however, not only the race itself. For the week preceding the event the whole of the Trieste sea-front is transformed into the "Villaggio Barcolana" which hosts stalls serving local and international food specialities, sector-based shops and themed meetings. For several days, Trieste becomes the international home of the sailing community with all types of events and concerts to entertain the many visitors who make the Barcolana a regular appointment. It can be fun for enthusiasts and the curious alike just to wander between the Capitaneria and the Molo Pescheria and admire the competing boats which are often decorated by their crews and transformed into welcoming, floating bars.
Alongside the main event there is also the Barcolina, a race for young sailors in the optimist class and for windsurfers, and the Barcolana Classic, a historical regatta in which older and highly-decorated boats, some of which are true jewels of the sea, challenge each other over a course which goes from Piazza dell'Unità to the Castle of Miramare.

Point of interest
Since 2003 the average number of participants has been over 1,800, and it is estimated that over 20,000 yachtsmen and women take part every year. It almost makes you smile to think that in distant 1969, when the first edition of the Barcolana took place, the race was won by Betelgeuse captained by Piero Napp, one of only 51 competitors, although perhaps this is not so surprising given the low number of sailing boats in the Gulf of Trieste at that time.