A Beach Divided by a Wall, and Cherished by a City
Sandego.net – On Trieste’s waterfront, a modest strip of pebbles beside the port preserves a summer custom that has largely disappeared elsewhere in Europe. At La Lanterna, better known locally as El Pedocin, beachgoers do not simply choose a place to put down a towel. They first choose an entrance: one for women and one for men.
The city-run beach operates with striking simplicity. Visitors pay 1.20 euros, roughly $1.40, at a ticket window, then pass through separate doors. Corridors lead to changing rooms and then to two different sections of shore. The separation does not stop at the changing areas. A wall about 10 feet high runs across the beach itself, keeping the male and female sides apart.
People arriving together may find themselves divided by the barrier, able to meet only by swimming beyond the breakwater into open water. On land, women relax, talk and sunbathe on one side, while men gather on the other, often playing cards. For many visitors, it is an unusual arrangement. For generations of Triestini, it is simply El Pedocin.
A local institution with deep roots
La Lanterna has welcomed swimmers since the late 19th century or the opening years of the 20th century. Its founding is traditionally dated to 1903, although the exact opening date remains uncertain. What is clear is that Trieste was not yet Italian at the time. The city belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where it was the empire’s principal port and its fourth-largest city.
Trieste’s position on what is now the border between Italy and Slovenia helped transform it rapidly. Once a small and relatively marginal settlement on the Adriatic, it became a central passage point for goods entering and leaving the empire. Trade brought prosperity, workers and investors, creating a diverse and outward-looking city.
“It went from a negligible little village that kind of didn’t exist until the late 18th century when Austria came along, and in the course of a century it became very prosperous and rich,” says Katia Pizzi, senior lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of London.
“It attracted many immigrants — in search of labor but also immigrants with capital,” says Pizzi. “It became very, very rich, very fast.”
El Pedocin grew out of that particular Triestine world: a port city with a strong maritime identity and a close everyday relationship with the sea. Its nickname is thought to derive from the local word for “louse,” recalling a time when Austrian soldiers brought horses to the shore to wash and rid them of fleas.
More than a swim
For residents, the beach is not merely a curiosity for visitors. It is part of the city’s daily rhythm. The waterfront site lies around a 20-minute walk from Piazza Unità d’Italia, Trieste’s main square, making it easy to visit during a lunch break or for an afternoon of sunbathing.
“Other people take coffee breaks but we do a bathing and tanning break,” says local journalist and author Micol Brusaferro, a Pedocin regular.
“We happily go to the beach alone. The Triestini have a special relationship with the sea and tanning. We go alone to relax.”
That ease of access has long made the beach especially important to women. Award-winning novelist Mauro Covacich, who was born and raised in Trieste and has written about the city, recalls going there with his mother as a child.
“Like all Triestini, I was taken there by my mother,” says Covacich, who now lives in Rome.
“It was very easy for women to go to El Pedocin,” he says. “It was close to home, there were lots of buses, it was the only city-center beach. So Triestini, but especially women, used to go.”
When Covacich was young, entry rules for children were based on height rather than age, meaning he could remain in the women’s area until he grew too tall. Today, a parent may bring a child of any gender into the beach until the child turns 12.
Debate has only increased its appeal
El Pedocin drew wider attention in June after two tourists from Milan objected to the arrangement. The pair had paid to enter before learning that the beach was split by gender. One visitor described the rule as “absurd and medieval” and asked for her money back.
The reaction in Trieste was markedly different. The episode brought renewed attention to the beach and appears to have strengthened local interest. July admissions rose more than 50% year on year, climbing from 34,885 entries in July 2025 to 53,610 in July 2026.
Its defenders do not necessarily view the wall as a relic of restriction. For many women who use the beach, the women-only section offers privacy, independence and an uncomplicated place to spend time alone or with friends. The setting has also become inseparable from shared memories: parents taking children to the shore, neighbors meeting for an afternoon, and generations returning to the same small stretch of coast.
That emotional connection helps explain why a beach that can appear peculiar from outside remains so resilient. El Pedocin is a physical remnant of another era, but its continued popularity comes from how it functions in the present. In a city shaped by shifting borders, trade and cultural exchange, the divided shore has become one of Trieste’s most distinctive communal spaces.
For first-time visitors, the rules may require a moment of adjustment. For regulars, however, the routine is familiar: pay at the window, choose the appropriate door, cross the changing area and step out toward the Adriatic. On the other side of the wall may be family members, friends or partners. Yet for many of the people who return year after year, that separation is part of the freedom El Pedocin represents.
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