Description
The Salone degli Incanti is Trieste's former Central Fish Market, on the Rive waterfront: a 1913 fish market that looks like a basilica, bell tower included, and is now the city's large exhibition hall.
Inside, the reinforced-concrete hall with three naves is bright thanks to its big windows, with pillars that hold up the roof as in bridges. The bell tower is a trick: it hid the seawater tank that fed the fish stalls. The day's catch was auctioned in the portico.
The architect Giorgio Polli chose the basilica shape so as not to block the sea view with a shed. Since 1933 one wing has housed the Marine Aquarium, and here Francis Ford Coppola shot the Ellis Island scene of The Godfather Part II.
Inside, the reinforced-concrete hall with three naves is bright thanks to its big windows, with pillars that hold up the roof as in bridges. The bell tower is a trick: it hid the seawater tank that fed the fish stalls. The day's catch was auctioned in the portico.
The architect Giorgio Polli chose the basilica shape so as not to block the sea view with a shed. Since 1933 one wing has housed the Marine Aquarium, and here Francis Ford Coppola shot the Ellis Island scene of The Godfather Part II.