he Financial Times has recently highlighted the world’s best food markets, with two Italian names making the cut: Palermo’s Mercato del Capo and Livorno’s Mercato delle Vettovaglie, also known as the Mercato Centrale. The first is a lively part of the Sicilian capital’s old city center, the second a vast iron-and-glass hall built at the end of the nineteenth century. Different? yes, but still two sides of the same coin, as they both show how strong the market tradition remains in Italy and why these places still mark and define many people’s daily lives.
While both markets cited in the Financial Times’ list are, in their own right, beautiful, we shouldn’t forget that a market earns its place not through image but through use and atmosphere: stalls open early, regulars chat with vendors, and what arrives in the morning is gone by lunch.
