The Free Territory of Trieste (Italian: Territorio libero di Trieste, Slovene: Svobodno tržaško ozemlje; Croatian: Slobodni teritorij Trsta; Triestine and Istrian: Teritorio Libero de Trieste) was an independent territory situated in Central Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the North part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath of World War II.