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san giovanni del timavo |
| Buses from Trieste to Monfalcone go to SAN GIOVANNI DEL TIMAVO , stopping just above the Gothic church of San Giovanni in Tuba, built on the site of a fifth-century basilica. A few metres away, the River Timavo swells and bubbles up from the limestone just below road level, at the end of a subterranean course of some 40kms. A stroll around the woods reveals numerous smaller springs, the water a strange deep green and icy cold. The mouth of the Timavo has long been seen as a powerful place; in the Aeneid , Virgil describes the water "resounding against the cliffs with a great sound", though these days most of the noise comes from the nearby road. The Greek historian Strabo says there was a sacred wood here, where white horses were sacrificed to Diomedes, god-hero of the Trojan Wars. Above the road, beside an ugly modern church, is the so-called Grotte del Mitreo , a deep cave with its own clutch of local legends. The site is dangerous, however, and you should only go with a guide (ask at the tourist office in Trieste). |