11 August 2026 · CineFood Italia Editorial Team
The King in Trieste: Caffè San Marco
The Sky series with Luca Zingaretti filmed in Trieste across Piazza Oberdan, the Porto Vecchio and inside the Antico Caffè San Marco.
Il Re (The King), a Sky Original series starring Luca Zingaretti, is set in a fictional border prison. The city framing it, though, is real: Trieste, with its sea, its Porto Vecchio and its historic cafés.
Trieste in the series
The Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission’s film tourism portal documents the city locations: Piazza Oberdan, Ponterosso, the Porto Vecchio and the Antico Caffè San Marco. Filming took place in summer 2021 and returned to the city in November 2022 for a second round, alongside the other sets in Rome, Turin and Civitavecchia.
Caffè San Marco
Caffè San Marco opened in 1914 on Via Cesare Battisti and quickly became the city’s literary café: the haunt of Italo Svevo and Umberto Saba, one of the places where the Mitteleuropean Trieste of the early twentieth century took shape. The Liberty interiors — wooden masks on the walls, marble tables, mirrors — are still the originals, and they are what the series brought on screen: several sequences are shot inside.
Today the San Marco is also a bookshop and a restaurant, open every day from morning until late. It’s one of those places where you can sit for hours with a book and nobody minds: part of its identity, not a concession to visitors.
A day in Trieste following the series
A simple itinerary lines up the series’ locations: a morning at Piazza Oberdan and a walk down to Ponterosso, lunch or a break at the San Marco, an afternoon in the Porto Vecchio, the vast nineteenth-century port area now being redeveloped. With more time, finish at Piazza Unità d’Italia and the Molo Audace at sunset.
In short
Il Re used Trieste for what it is: a border city whose architecture tells the story of more than one empire. Caffè San Marco is the most comfortable way to sit inside it. Discover more films and shows shot in Italy on our site.
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Frequently asked questions
▸ Where was the series Il Re with Luca Zingaretti filmed?
Across Rome, Turin, Civitavecchia and Trieste. In the city, filming covered Piazza Oberdan, Ponterosso, the Porto Vecchio and the Antico Caffè San Marco, as documented by the Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission's film tourism portal.
▸ Which historic café appears in Il Re?
The Antico Caffè San Marco, at Via Cesare Battisti 18/A: some scenes in the series are shot in its interiors. It's open every day.
▸ How old is Caffè San Marco?
It opened in 1914. It's Trieste's literary café, frequented by Italo Svevo and Umberto Saba, and today it also houses a bookshop and a restaurant.
▸ What is the series Il Re about?
Bruno Testori runs a border prison by his own rules, until internal investigations into several murders and the presence of a suspected terrorist put him under pressure. A second season arrived in 2025.
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