Scenes from an Italian market

One of the reasons that I chose Florence is because of its amazing markets. Leather markets, produce market, food market, I even Googled an antiques market. I have noticed that Italians do not buy in bulk as we do, and instead, they love to take their time (non c'e fretto!) and peruse the markets, buying the freshest foods of that day. Sthat is exactly what I plan to do, go to the markets. Every. Single. Day.

The Mercato Centrale (aka San Lorenzo market) is known for its leather, but Monday-Saturday 7am-2pm, they set up a tent outside for produce, and have a HUGE indoor market with anything and everything! Beautiful fish, meat, bread, pasta, dessert. I haven't been to many indoor markets but it is a little similar to the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia (in my opinion).

Here are some of my favorites from the market on Friday:

Huge head of a pesce spada (swordfish);

tongue;

pretty sure this is a hollow face of a cow? Looks like a mask!;

not sure if this is a SHARK?!;

prosciutto crudo;

whole chicken;

oranges picked fresh;

and my favorite:

PIG HEADS! This macellaio (butcher) saw that we were staring at the pig heads, so he put three up on the counter to take pictures. Then he and I started singing the 3 little pigs song (in Italian), it goes like this:

Siamo tre piccoli porcellini

Siamo tre, bidichin

Mai nessun ci dividera

Tra la la la la la la

You can hear it here. Then I asked him what he was using it for? "Zuppa?" "No, arrosto" (roasted). And he held up a pig head and kissed it. You have to love the passion that Italians have for their food!

Then we went home and made this from our market finds. Un panino con focaccia, tomato, prosciutto crudo, e mozzarella fresca. Che deliciosa!

I cannot wait to go to this market again!

Ciao!