The outsider might find Bari’s mercato di pesce (fish market) quite striking. Along the city’s Lungomare, near the historic Teatro Margherita, lies the Molo San Nicola, a pier surrounded by modest-sized, brightly colored fishing boats. There’s nothing pristine or upscale about it—which is precisely the charm—but it’s here that you can find some of the city’s freshest fish.

On the dock, sailors and fishermen peddle out the day’s catch—octopus, scallops, oysters, mussels, razor clams, sardines, vongole veraci—on makeshift tables, from plastic buckets, atop Peroni crates. Someone might be tendering freshly caught polpo (octopus) by bashing it right on the pavement or shucking a couple of oysters from a white plastic bucket.