Casa Terni is the most evident representation of Art Nouveau in Trieste. In Piazza della Repubblica at the corner of Via Dante and Via Mazzini up to Via San Nicolò, there is Casa Terni Smolars, designed in 1906 by architect Romeo Depaoli in Art Nouveau style for Cavalier Augusto Terni.
The building was called "Casa Smolars" because on the ground floor on the corner between Via Mazzini and Via Dante Costanza Carniel founded the Smolars stationery shop, which is still active in the city. The continuous alternation of recessed and protruding bodies, small columns and terraces, pilasters and pilaster strips creates a game of chiaroscuro that animates the façade.
The superabundant plastic richness of the ornamental motifs characterizes an example of Art Nouveau which is both lively and vibrant. The ground floor and the mezzanine, characterized by the Wagnerian theme of fullness over emptiness, highlight the clear derivation from Max Fabiani, in the arrangement of the mezzanines open in large windows for the display of goods from the shops on the ground floor. The windows on the first and second floors are crowned by low arches. Above the main entrance there is a large circular window and on the sides two female statues by Paolo Rathmann.
