Sheep milk farmers selling ricotta out of the boot of cars; men with blackened hands biting the ends off ink-stained cuttlefish before preparing them for sale – this is a mercato in full flight in Italy. Where Italians have a market, the have life, and the sheer liveliness of it defies the imagination. 

You can hardly believe the freshness of the fish, the sweet smell of the herbs, the clamour and hubbub, the bustling, heaving humanity. Vongole (clams) may spray you with a fine thread of the seawater they’re kept in, arguments are fought and lovers kiss and all the while the buying and selling goes on. When you visit an Italian market you become part of life at its most unadulterated. There’s no pretension, no polite standing back to enjoy the view, It’s all happening, and with a vengeance. Italian markets are a revelation. A good stall-holder will not only tell you what fruit and vegetables are in season but also how to cook them. And they may even slip a little bundle of herbs in with your purchases to enhance a soup or lift a stew.

Squisito have visited countless Italian markets from the covered market in Genoa (we bought white truffle and fresh basil) Cisternino market in Puglia, (we bought black chick peas and barretone – a kind of cucumber shaped melon only found in south east Italy), to Vicuria market in Palermo, Sicily (we bought fiery red pesto and ate fresh squid cooked in front of us on the street). So it doesn’t matter how many times you visit an Italian market, there is always something new to see, something new to taste and something you can’t believe what is going on.