The Great Italian Adventure: At the Street Markets

Street markets are everywhere, tucked into narrow lanes, they are setup and torn down daily in several areas around our neighborhood. Some are mainly soft goods, some food stuffs.

Naples
Johnnie discovered the other day that some of the vendors are illegally selling (without a license or paying the appropriate taxes to the government). He was walking along the street when suddenly there was a rapid commotion of people breaking down their carts and running for the allies quickly. The Guardia di Finanza who I characterize as the modern day tax collectors, raid these areas where the illegal street vendors gather. It seems to be a regular occurrence and as soon as the Guardia have moved on, the street vendors are back. These people have small, very portable displays.

Other street vendors are of a more permanent nature and must pay their taxes since they don't appear to be harassed by the Guardia, and they are in the same locations day after day. Here in our neighborhood, they setup by 9am and generally are shutting down by 1pm. They have this process down to a fine science and can do it in short order.

This one street near us has mostly clothing and fabrics. Their merchandise looks to be good quality, so I will be checking them out in future.

One side of the street is all booths

Dodging scooters and cars while you shop is part of the experience

I believe it is acceptable to bargain. I noticed very few price tags which always suggests to me that things are negotiable.

Martina Franca
This past week I traveled to Grottaglie on business. We stayed in Martina Franca because it is a much nicer place for Johnnie during the day. It is a very clean, traditional Italian town with lots of places to walk, shops, coffee bars, and many things close at hand.

Martina Franca Taranto Italy

The street market in Martina Franca is a traveling market that goes between several small towns in the area. They are in MF on Wednesday mornings. When I left for work at 7:30am they were already setting up and I had to wind my way carefully through the booths since it basically takes over the streets for several blocks around our hotel. It is a huge market compared to the small ones around us in Napoli.

Johnnie got out and wandered and took all these photos I will share with you. It is an amazing market and the streets were crowded with people from 8 until 1pm. Prices seem to be good and everything from women's clothing to fabric to fish were for sale.

Street market in Martina Franca

Lots of fresh vegetables for sale

Johnnie bought a shirt and a couple fly swatters. As always it is the food that really amazes us though. Prices are Euros per kilo, so you have to do a bit of math to compare with what we pay. But even without the math, street market prices are lots cheaper and the food is fresh, grown locally.