Markets in Italy

 

            Since the little one has been around for 5 days and my hubby and I are settling into a routine with him, we figured it was about time to resume our Italian adventures. We were starting to run low on food and as we were having company over for dinner we decided to visit a market and get some healthy additions for our kitchen.

            In Italy, just about every town has a weekly market. Even though our town of Budoia is quite small, they have a market every Wednesday.  I have a chart detailing what day of the week the surrounding towns have their weekly market, so at any given day of the week one can drive to a neighboring town (roughly 10-15 mins apart) and visit a fresh food market.

Troy and Adam, observing the fresh produce

            Adam was great on our market-exploring trip, we bundled him in some cozy outfits his Grandpa and Grandma Coe sent him from Thailand and placed him in the baby carrier from Grandma Fish. (Thank you grandparents!!!) Happy as a clam, we toted him around everywhere and had the mobility of both our arms. 

Adam, snuggled up next to his daddy as we explored the Italian towns and markets

             A word about markets in Italy: Unlike the farmers markets I’ve experienced in the states, where people grab the produce, observe it, smell it, etc, before deciding to purchase it, that is considered rude here and touching the produce is impolite. Instead you may observe from afar with your eyes, and when you’d like to buy it you tell the vendor/farmer what you want and how many. You can indicate which ones you’d like if you found some particular favorites, but generally it is best to let the vendor/farmer select the produce and bag it for you. This wasn't explicitly told to me, but I get the feeling that touching the produce and observing it hands-on would be like implying that you doubt that the farmer is offering you his best produce and is instead attempting to gyp you. 

            Troy and I realized we need to learn all of our fruits and vegetables in Italian. When it was our turn to request the fruits and veggies we wanted, we attempted to ask in our broken Italian. The woman shouted to another man, pointed at us and yelled to him, “Americano!” haha. The man spoke some English and together we were able to get the goodies we desired.

            On another note, Italian people LOVE babies. Sometimes I feel like royalty by simply carrying the baby, people freak out and oo and aw over him everywhere we go. It comes in handy because he breaks a lot of language barriers for us. Regardless of the baby though, the Italians are still very kind and the vendor was giving us samples of his fruits to try after we struck up conversation with him. 

Adam in his awesome car seat that I got brand spankin new for $35! It clicks into the car, his stroller, and the carts at the grocery store. Score!

          We also took the little one to the grocery stores for the things we couldn’t get at the markets, (which were flooded with guys buying last minute chocolates and flowers for their Valentines) and we placed his car seat on the cart and wheeled him through the store. He slept through the bumpy ride and through all the noise and commotion around us. We were out shopping for hours and the little guy was conked out the whole time. That’s okay, he has another four years to experience markets here and everything else Italy has to offer. Until then, I think I’ll just let sleeping babes lie...