Park 40 - The Coastal Trench Park

The Coastal Trench is an impressive defensive line built by the Austro-Hungarian command to protect Trieste from a possible attack by sea. Stretching from Duino-Devin to Cittanova (Novigrad, Croatia), parts of the trench system can still be visited today at Parco 40, an open-air museum near the Sanctuary of Monte Grisa. 
The trail crossing the park, immersed in the Karst landscape, is easy to walk and offers striking views over the Gulf of Trieste. The first section of the park, reachable in around 10 minutes by following a path through the vegetation, includes two accessible trench sections where visitors can observe the dry-stone retaining walls and the defensive solutions designed to improve the soldiers’ firing positions. Continuing along the track, the route joins a forest road leading to the next two stops: uphill lies a trench equipped with several loopholes interrupted by an access passage. Retracing the route and finally following CAI trail 12, visitors reach the last site: a fortified position featuring two caves and a communication trench. Continuing along CAI trail 12 eventually leads back towards the Sanctuary of Monte Grisa and the parking area.