The fish market of Trieste has been for over a century one of the most vital and identifying places in the city, a meeting point between merchants, fishermen, housewives and the curious, and a symbol of the Triestine maritime tradition. Its history reflects the economic, social and urban transformations of Trieste between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
From the origins to the “vecchia pescheria”
The first traces of regulation of fish sales in Trieste date back to 1150, when a statute was drawn up that regulated the marketing of the catch.
- For centuries, the corporation of Muggia was the protagonist of fishing activity, flanked from the seventeenth century by the fishermen of the Barcola basin.
- During the nineteenth century, with urban expansion and the increase in maritime traffic, it became necessary to equip the city with adequate structures.
- The “vecchia pescheria”, active from 1878 at the current Teatro Miela, became the main wholesale and retail point of sale for fish.
The Nuova Pescheria: a cutting-edge work
At the end of the XIX century, to allow the expansion of the free port and to meet the new hygienic and commercial needs, it was decided to build a new fish market.
After years of debates and postponements, the choice fell on an area between the Molo Giuseppino and the Molo dei Pescatori. The works, entrusted to the architect Giorgio Polli and the engineer Piero Zampieri, began in 1911 and were completed in August 1913.
The building, made in an eclectic style with basilical references, was distinguished by:
- Its reinforced concrete structure.
- Large windows overlooking the sea.
- Decorative marine-themed friezes by the sculptor Ambrogio Pirovano.
The central hall, 60 meters long and 35 wide, housed 146 sales counters in Carso stone, served by fresh and salt water, while the side tower served as a reservoir for sea water. The fish market was immediately renamed by the Triestines “Santa Maria del Guato” (from the name of the goby fish), due to its shape that recalled a church.
A place of life, work and memory
The Nuova Pescheria quickly became a social center and commercial: here fish auctions (“degli incanti”) took place, retail sales, Annona controls and administrative activities.
The market was enlivened by:
- Fishmongers and housewives.
- Restaurateurs and simple onlookers.
In a lively and popular atmosphere, immortalized by famous photographers such as Pietro Opiglia, Ugo Borsatti and Adriano de Rota. The fish market was also a film set for movies like “Senilità” by Bolognini (1962) and “The Godfather Part II” by Coppola (1974).
Decline and transformation
After the Seconda guerra mondiale, the fish market began a slow decline, marked by:
- The reduction of counters.
- The relocation of retail sales to peripheral neighborhoods.
The reasons were economic, hygienic and logistical, but also the change in eating habits and distribution. The lights of the fish market were definitively turned off on 31 dicembre 1998, marking the end of an era and the “pulverization of a place of daily meeting and social aggregation”.
The Salone degli Incanti: the cultural rebirth
In 2006, the former fish market was transformed into the Salone degli Incanti, an exhibition center for modern and contemporary art, returning to the city a building of great architectural and symbolic value.
Today the Salone hosts exhibitions, events and cultural manifestations, keeping alive the memory of a place that for almost a century has represented the beating heart of popular and maritime Trieste.
The historic fish market of Trieste thus remains a symbol of the city, of its maritime identity and of the ability to transform collective memory into new forms of urban life and culture.