Friuli Venezia Giulia Geography

The region divides into three distinct bands. The north is Alpine -- the Julian Alps along the Slovenian border and the Carnic Alps further west -- with real winter snow and a genuine mountain economy. Behind Trieste lies the Karst (Carso), a limestone plateau riddled with caves and sinkholes that gives its name to the geological term «karst» used worldwide for this kind of terrain. The south is flat: the Friulian plain runs to a short Adriatic coastline, with the Grado and Lignano lagoons providing the region's main beach resorts.

Trieste itself sits where the Karst meets the sea, in a narrow strip of Italian territory squeezed between the plateau and the Gulf of Trieste -- a position that explains both its historical value as a port for landlocked Central Europe and its exposure to the Bora, a strong, cold wind that funnels down off the plateau.