Description

Located at the start of Riva Nazario Sauro there is a building that resembles a church so much that the local Triestini dubbed it “Santa Maria del Guato” (‘Saint Mary of the Goby’) in honour of one of the most common fish of the Gulf, the goby or “guato” in the local dialect. This nickname for a basilica of the sea recalls the fact that the building had been designed and built in 1913 by Giorgio Polli, a mechanical engineer, to house the fish market, the Pescheria “Nova” or “Grande” and then an Aquarium. The “bell tower” rising from the left side of the aquarium was in reality a “water tower”: it used to contain a raised tank of seawater that could then be supplied to the sales counters in the hall. The fish market comprised a large central hall with the sales counters, while on the other side of the aquarium, which now houses the main entrance to the exhibitions venue, there was the auction room for the fish. The former fish market, now called the Salone degli Incanti, was restored in 2006 to be used as an exhibitions venue. One of the sales counters is still on display inside the exhibition area.