[3] In 1497, Italian court poet Rogeri de Pacienza di Nardo wrote about a group of Serbian refugees who left the Despotate of Đurađ Branković to settle in the village of Gioia del Colle near Bari, Italy.

Charles' daughter Maria Theresa went further by slashing duties, improving the harbor, pulling down old city walls, and encouraging Illyrian, Greek, and Jewish merchants to expand the port.

Serb merchants and ship-owners established a community in Trieste at the start of the 18th century, most primarily originating from Sarajevo, Trebinje, and the Bay of Kotor.

[10] In 1751, Maria Theresa of the Austro-Hungarian Empire proclaimed religious freedom in the city, and the Serbs and Greeks of Trieste built the Saint Spyridon Church that same year.

[11] The most influential of the wealthy Serbian merchants of the time were[12] the Kurtović, Gopčević, Kvekić, Vojnović, Vučetić, Popović, Teodorović, Nikolić, Škuljević, Opuhić, Rajović, Mekša, Kovačević, and Miletić families, who owned most of the structures and dock area of the Porto Vecchio (lit.

With the advent of railroads, there was direct contact with Vienna, and countries to the east and west, making Trieste a great South European hub.

On 1 July 1792, the local government approved its opening, and the Jovan Miletić Private School began official operation, located in the city center, right beside the Saint Spyridon Church.

[9] In 1911, an asylum was added to the school, for Serbian political refugees, due to the constant warfare and bloodshed occurring between the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires on the Balkan Peninsula.

But in 1861, the Serb community demolished the original church, and rebuilt a new, much more grandiose one in its stead, in Serbo-Byzantine Revival style, in order to "stamp their identity architecturally in the midst of a baroque Austro-Italian city".

[citation needed] The church is filled with liturgical masterpieces of the time—including works in gold from the 17th and 18th centuries, and antique Orthodox icons and handmade books—making it an important monument to Serbian history and culture.

[11] The church was designed by Italian architect Carlo Maciachini, and features four cupolas and one large main dome colored a muted blue.

Due to the contentious national border with Slovenia, Italian society became increasingly hostile towards all Slavs in Trieste including the Serbs, and anti-Slavic racism began to flourish in Italy.

The Gopčević family built the Palazzo Gopcevich on the Canale Grande, near the St. Spyridon Serbian Church, in 1850 in commemoration of the heroes who fought for the independence of Serbia from the Ottoman Empire (1814).

Cristoforo Popovich owned many famous merchant ships in Trieste, some of the largest in the Adriatic—the Tartana, Il Feroce Dalmata, La Forza, and the Ripatriato—and was instrumental in the Russian-side during the Crimean War (1853–1856).