Not as overrun as other cities in Bella Italia and framed by the Adriatic, Trieste has all the architectural and cultural hallmarks of other places, plus a nice blend of "Italianita" with Slovene and Croatian influences. It's a real find and worth a visit. Best of all, Trieste is only over an hour by high speed train from Venezia Mestre, so even a day-trip option on a spare day from Venice. James Joyce walked the streets there too, over 100 years ago.

DH and I made Trieste a day trip from Venice and enjoyed Archduke's Palace tour. Pretty walk along the water. We couldn't find any gelato though.

Not exactly a palace, but Miramare Castle and its grounds are a nice tour; and, at least when we went, without large crowds.. We really enjoyed Trieste, and they do have gelato. We also took a comfortable bus ride day trip to Ljubjlana and found great pizza AND even better gelato there

We did a day trip from Venice and loved it - Trieste is a real sleeper - marvelously restored old town with neat old wooden edifices.

We just visited Trieste in June... blessedly low on tourists and not a single selfie stick. Great food and a Roman fortress at the top of the hill unfortunately closed when we were there.