The Tempio Israelitico synagogue was founded as an Israelite temple on the 27th June 1912. It was built by Ruggero and Arduino Berlam, renowned architects in Trieste. It was in the 14th Century that the community began to grow and after a proclamation by Austro Hungarian emperor that Trieste was to become a free port, they were, until 1785, forced to live in a ghetto. Joseph II, the Emperor of Austria abolished the law. It faces onto Piazza Giotti, between the city centre’s busy Via Battisti and Via Carducci.