The Mercato Orientale - Winter

One of the greatest joys of life in Italy is the food.  Although processed fast food is sneaking in the back door, Italy was and is the home of the Slow Food movement.  Locally grown produce and meat served during it's season is the natural order of things.  The place where this way of life is most evident, and probably my favorite place in Genoa, is the Mercato Orientale.

Established in the unfinished priory of Nostra Signora della Consolazione in 1899, the Mercato is located on Via XX Settembre, the main thoroughfare of Genoa, just outside what once was the eastern gate of the city.  This explains the name "Orientale" which refers to the eastern location.

If it is eaten in Italy, you will find it here.  With over 100 vendors of fruits and vegetables, some completely unrecognizable, fresh meats including the wonderful beef from Piemonte but also pork, lamb, veal and an unimaginable assortment of seafood, this is a food lover's paradise. 

 

Not technically an open-air market, but it's freezing in here!

  

 What's in season today?

  

  

 It's artichoke season. 

What is this...looks dangerous?  It's a variety of cauliflower called Romanesco.

Treviso radicchio

  

  

Want fish for dinner?  The shopkeeper will tell you the best way to prepare it.

  

Who's going to eat whom?

Today's catch.  So fresh they're still alive.

Yummy...fresh eel.

  

No question that you're buying swordfish.

Some stuff I'm just never going to eat.

  

Chicken, guinea hens, ducks...

Fresh sausage, beef, pork and veal...

and rabbit.

Prosciutto. This vendor sells 8 different kinds.

  

Salami, salami, salami...and proscuitto cotto

Half wheels of young and aged Parmigiano Reggiano.

  

... just a few of the other cheeses for sale.

Dried fruits and nuts.

  

The spice vendor dried...

...and fresh.

Tropical fruit.

Local honeys, jams and tuna.

Pasta!

Olives.

  

  

 Dried chilies and oregano

and of course, flowers. 

If you're adventurous, there are also vendors of tripe, horse and donkey meat and salamis, calf brains and intestines and on and on.  Whatever your tastes, there's something here for you.  We'll go back in the Spring and see what's new.