A seaport city of just over 200,000 residents in northeast Italy could play a significant geopolitical role in promoting Eurasian integration. The port of Trieste is only the 11th busiest in Europe by tonnage, but nonetheless is designed to become the western end of the Maritime Silk Road, a key section of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative to improve connectivity between China and Western Europe.
Zeno D’Agostino, president of the Port Network Authority of the Eastern...