Friuli-Venezia Giulia · Trieste
Muggia
The only town on the Istrian peninsula still inside Italy, a small Venetian port on the Gulf of Trieste five kilometers from the Slovenian border.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Muggia is on our list
It holds Città del Vino and Città dell'Olio.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Sep
- By car
- 22 min from Trieste
- Population
- 12,708
- J10°
- F12°
- M14°
- A17°
- M22°
- J27°
- J30°
- A30°
- S25°
- O20°
- N15°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. The sea is warmest in July at 27° and coldest in February at 10°. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Going to the sea? How to find the free beaches in Italy.
Why come
Muggia sits on the eastern flank of the Gulf of Trieste, the only Italian port town on the Istrian peninsula and the last commune before the Slovenian border. The bones go back to a prehistoric castelliere, eighth or seventh century BC, which the Romans turned into Castrum Muglae in 178 BC. After Venice took it in 1420 the town acquired the architecture it still wears: tri-lobed Gothic facades, narrow calli, a mandracchio harbor ringed by pastel houses.
The Duomo of Santi Giovanni e Paolo was consecrated in 1263 and faced with Aurisina limestone in 1467 in Venetian Renaissance Gothic. After Venice fell in 1797, Muggia passed to Austria, and under the Habsburgs its shipyards grew into the town's main industry. The town passed to Italy after 1918, sat in the Free Territory of Trieste from 1947, and returned to Italy in 1954. The Carnevale, eight parading companies in custom costumes, traces itself to the town statutes of 1420 and is billed locally as the oldest in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
How to get there
From Treviso (TSF), about 2 h 3 min by car.
Verona (VRN) is about 3 h 16 min away.
By car from the center of Trieste 22 min or Udine 1 h 10 min.
Coming from Venice?
Coming by train into Trieste Centrale? Muggia is about 21 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Duomo dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo
Cathedral consecrated in 1263, refaced in 1467 with Aurisina limestone and a tri-lobed Venetian Renaissance Gothic façade, the visual symbol of the town.
Castello di Muggia
Castle above the port begun as a tower by the Patriarch of Aquileia in 1374, restored by its owners, the sculptor Villi Bossi and his wife, and opened for concerts and events.
Mandracchio
Sheltered small-boat harbor at the center of the town, pastel houses lining the water below the Duomo and the castle.
Centro storico
Venetian-era street plan of narrow calli and small piazzas inside the medieval walls, marked by Venetian and Austrian architectural layers.
Muggia Vecchia archaeological park
Site of the original medieval Muggia on the hill, emptied as residents moved down to the shore in the late fifteenth century, with the Romanesque basilica the one building still standing.
Living here
Could you live here?
Muggia meets our one rule for a small town.
- 12,708 people, inside our sweet spot of 5,000 to 20,000: a real town, still one community.
- Trieste, a city of 198,388, is 22 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 12,708, down 3.3% since 2015
- Nearest city Trieste, 22 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Trieste, 8 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,750 to €2,200 per m² to buy, €6.40 to €9.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 93% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Trieste airport (TRS), 47 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Trieste, 22 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Slovenia, Serbia and Romania, against 9% across Italy. 41 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom. There are 368 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 18% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Trieste province ranks 17th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Trieste, 8 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. The nearest children's emergency room is in Trieste, 8 km away. The nearest IB school is UWC Adriatic, 24 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is International School of Trieste, 10 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
Friuli Venezia Giulia has its own property tax, ILIA, in place of IMU. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €12,500. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Friuli-Venezia Giulia spends about €2,350 a month, €520 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €478 a year for water, on the Friuli-Venezia Giulia average. In Trieste, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.42, a meal in a pizzeria €11.49 and a man's haircut €28.74.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 5% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 6% in a high or medium one. Under 1% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
CARNEVALE
Eight parading companies in custom costumes, a carnival recorded in the town statutes of 1420, running through the weeks before Lent.
ISTRIA IN ITALY
The only Italian town on the Istrian peninsula, back under Italy since the 1954 London Memorandum, carrying Venetian and Istrian heritage at once.
SHIPYARD TOWN
Shipbuilding town that grew under Habsburg rule in the nineteenth century, the industry that built modern Muggia behind the medieval port.
Common questions
- What is Muggia known for?
- Muggia is the only town on the Istrian peninsula still inside Italy, a small Venetian port on the Gulf of Trieste five kilometers from the Slovenian border.
- Where is Muggia?
- Muggia is a comune in the province of Trieste, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, at 13 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Muggia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Trieste (TRS), about 47 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Trieste to Muggia?
- About 22 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Muggia?
- Best in May–Sep. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Muggia?
- Alba Adriatica, Trinitapoli and Grottammare.
- How many people live in Muggia?
- 12,708 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Muggia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Muggia is a small town that meets our one rule. The nearest city, Trieste, is 22 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Trieste, 8 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 93% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
The numbers
- Elevation: 13 m
- Population: 12,708
- Surface area: 13.85 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Similar
Towns like Muggia
What all six share with Muggia: on the Adriatic coast · over 10,000 people · near sea level
The letter
Muggia is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Muggia comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Chioggia, 124 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.