ABSTRACT
Trieste’s (failed) bid for the Expo 2008 is often described as a defining moment in the recent history of this Adriatic city. It represents an ‘urban episode’ that brought to light, in many ways, all the limits of a putative Triestine social capital,1 but that also made evident the fact that international competition among cities cannot rely solely on images and presumed ‘urban traditions’ exhumed for the occasion, or on the mere logics of ‘grant coalitions’ – that is, ad hoc networks that come together for a specific bid, but lacking a longer term vision and a solid degree of ‘trust’ that an urban milieu characterized by the strong presence of social capital is normally capable of mobilizing.
