{"id":100421,"date":"2026-07-23T18:21:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T18:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.s1trail.com\/duino-sentiero-rilke\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T13:15:59","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T13:15:59","slug":"duino-sentiero-rilke","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.s1trail.com\/en\/duino-sentiero-rilke\/","title":{"rendered":"Duino and the Sentiero Rilke"},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE AREA<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Duino and the Sentiero Rilke<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The castle suspended over the cliffs, and the 1,700 metres of path where Rilke wrote his Elegies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Duino<\/strong> (Slovene: Devin<\/strong>) is a hamlet in the Municipality of Duino Aurisina\/Devin Nabre\u017eina, on the Adriatic coast between Sistiana\/Sesljan and Villaggio del Pescatore, north-west of Trieste. The name is chiefly associated with Duino Castle<\/strong>, still inhabited, and the ruins of the Old Castle<\/strong> next to it, both perched on the edge of the limestone cliffs that drop into the Gulf of Trieste\/Tr\u017ea\u0161ki zaliv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The village is also the end point \u2013 or the starting point, depending on which way you go \u2013 of the Rilke Path<\/strong>, the 1,700-metre scenic walk that crosses the Duino Cliffs Regional Nature Reserve<\/strong> connecting Duino to Sistiana along the cliff edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to see and why it\u2019s special<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Duino Castle.<\/strong> Built in 1389 by Hugo of Duino on the site of an earlier Roman settlement, it has been home to the princes of Thurn und Taxis (Torre e Tasso in Italian) for over four centuries \u2013 the same family that ran the postal service in several European states for more than 350 years. Over the centuries it has hosted such figures as Johann Strauss, Franz Liszt, Gabriele d’Annunzio, Mark Twain and Rainer Maria Rilke. Local legend has it that Dante Alighieri also stayed at the castle, as a guest of the Patriarch of Aquileia, and composed some tercets of the Divine Comedy here \u2013 an episode handed down as tradition, not as documented historical fact. The castle is open to visitors for most of the year, with seasonal opening times and ticket information published on the official website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Castle and the White Lady.<\/strong> Next to the ruins of the Old Castle (10th century) lies a white limestone rock that, when viewed from the sea, resembles a veiled female figure: the White Lady<\/strong>. Local legend ties it to Esterina da Portole, the wife of a jealous and violent castellan who is said to have thrown her into the sea from a narrow path along the walls; turned to stone by fright, she became that rock, and at night, the story goes, she steps out of it and wanders the castle as far as the room where her son slept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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