Barcola is a maritime neighbourhood of Trieste, Italy. It is a popular tourist place with beaches and long promenades, near the Habsburg-established Miramare Castle. Barcola is highly valued for the high quality of life and the free access to the sea. The long and partly shady 5 km long waterfront of Barcola serves as a recreation area and city bathing beach of Trieste and is connected to the city center, Miramare, Sistiana but also partly to Grado by bus lines and regular shipping services. Barcola has several small ports, especially Porticciolo di Barcola, where local professional fishermen also work and liner shipping operates. The place is the center of the Barcolana regatta, currently the largest sailing race in the world. Known in Roman times as "Vallicula" or later as "Valcula", Barcola is known for its exclusive houses, the view from the green hills of the Gulf of Trieste, its long coastal promenade with extensive bathing and sports facilities and its hedonistically relaxed sporty mood. It is often referred to as the Adriatic Malibu. Geography The Karst Plateau of the Trieste coastal region, on the edge of which is Barcola, is also considered the foothills of the Alps. The area of Barcola has a special microclimate (protected from cold winds by the mountains, early temperature increase in spring and long summer), the benefits of which have been valued since ancient times. Barcola is located between the suburb of Miramare and the Trieste district of Roiano. Together with Grignano, Miramare, Gretta, Roiano, Scorcola, Cologna and part of Guardiella, Barcola forms the administrative district 3 of the municipality of Trieste (Circoscrizione III). Barcola is reached from the centre of Trieste by taking viale Miramare in the direction of Venice. Barcola is about 3 km from the train station. There is no adequate continuous cycle path from the center to Barcola. Economy Fishing Since the settlement, the locals have been fishing because of its location on the Gulf of Trieste. While tuna and sardines used to be caught and processed, today the anchovies from Barcola (sardoni barcolani) are particularly in demand. These fish, which only appear at Sirocco, are in demand because of their particularly fine taste and fetch the highest prices. The fish larvae begin their growth in rivers such as the Po, later continue to mature in the central Adriatic, and then arrive as popular annual fish in the waters off Barcola