Welcome to my fifth monthly post of my culinary memoir- Simply Divina: Becoming Italian One Recipe At A Time. Thank you for subscribing, I appreciate the love.
When you become a paying subscriber, you have access to all the archives, which include the guides to the Markets of Italy, which I created last year and my ebook, Secrets From My Tuscan Kitchen. This newsletter series is recipe heavy, especially this year that I am celebrating my 40th year in Italy.
Cook along with me and become a little more Italian every day!
When I lived with Andrea, my market was Sant’Ambrogio, just behind Santa Croce on the far side of town. It’s a smaller market but still in a real neighborhood. So many of Florence’s rental apartments are now tourist rentals, which push the Italians outside of town. The neighborhood has survived, and the market is still a favorite.
The outside of the market has fruit and vegetables, as well as some small stands from local farmers. One side has plants and clothing. Across the street is an antique market.
It’s also a wonderful food neighborhood, with several Cibreo restaurants, pizza, a great coffee shop, Ditta Artigianale, pizza, and pastries.
I was so blessed to find a teaching space right in front of the Mercato Centrale in Florence. From the dining room, we had a view of the market. I was there shopping daily. When I moved here, the refrigerators were so small, it made you shop every day. My Italian got better and better. They don’t teach food terms in school.
I held classes at that space from 1988 until 2009.
The photo below shows the market in 1958, with the fruit and vegetable stands outside and the butchers and bakers inside.
In 1966, Florence experienced a huge flood that caused extensive damage. The refrigerated units for the market were underneath the market and were lost in the flood. They moved everyone inside and built new refrigerated storage for each shop. They also built a second floor for the “ortolani,” the fruit and vegetable vendors.
I think a market is the heart of a city. I always try to visit a market to understand the local recipes and what is in season. Until recently, Italy was very regional, not having foods from other regions. Today, Italy is also a country of immigrants and the markets reflect the new populations and other Italian regional restaurants and shops.
I learned so much from all the shop owners in the market and still do today.
The market was again given a facelift 10 years ago when many of the stands upstairs were empty. People retired, so they moved the shops downstairs. Now upstairs is a modern artisan food court called the Mercato Centrale. It’s open from 10am until midnight and is a fun place to grab a bite to eat.
When the upstairs renovation was done, they also allowed the downstairs shops to start to serve food.
The sad part is that since there are fewer locals, many of the stands have adapted to selling prepared products for tourists. I can’t buy a liter of milk anymore. The small grocery store shops inside closed. That is also because now there are a lot of grocery stores open nearby.
Times change and we adapt.
Behind the paywall this week are links to some recipes I learned from my friends at the market.
