La Mussolera Sculpture

A salty breeze carried the scent of the sea. It mingled with the aroma of freshly caught mussels. Here at the Rotonda del Boschetto stands La Mussolera, a wooden sculpture paying homage to a Trieste tradition. La Mussolera translates to “the mussel seller”. This sculpture isn’t just a piece of art. It’s a tribute to the women who once sold mussels right here. They offered these “fruits of the sea” to passersby. Their stalls, often with just a single towel for cleaning up, were a common sight. La Mussolera reminds us of a time when these mussel sellers were a vibrant part of Trieste’s street life. The sculpture itself was carved from the trunk of a massive platanus tree. This tree was a local landmark until it became diseased and had to be felled. Artist Edoardo Coral, a native of San Giovanni, transformed the tree into this memorial. One side of the sculpture evokes the shape of a mussel shell. The other depicts a woman selling mussels. This symbolizes the connection between the tree, the mussels, and the women who sold them. La Mussolera is more than a sculpture. It is a memory carved in wood, a whisper of the past carried on the sea breeze. It is a reminder of a Trieste that once was.