Two Street Markets in Palermo Sicily For Uncovering Treasures
If you seek, you shall find. Discover treasures at the antique market, Mercado delle Pulci market, and for the freshest meats, vegetables and fish, the oldest market of them all, Mercado Ballaro in Palermo, Sicily.
Mercado delle Pulci on Saturday afternoon in Palermo | Piazza Papireto, 90134 Palermo PA, Italy
If an antique market in Sicily is on your shopping list, this is the place to be. Multiple vendors push there wares from furniture to ceramic tiles to chandeliers. I scored some beautiful blue and white tiles (photo below) for our kitchen backsplash and a dirt-covered, once-upon-a-time. white Fiat toy (photo below) that I’ll proudly sit on my desk. I actually left without it the first go-round, but returned to retrieve it days later. Gold trinkets and dishes might be the perfect addition to your home, and be prepared to haggle. The women are the toughest, and they’ll write down a number, draw a mark through it and then, it’s your turn to write down your offering. They might accept it, but if not, the process goes on and on. If you’re lucky, ask where the item came from and they might be able to tell you - or, at the very least, a tall tale.
Mercado Ballarò in downtown Palermo Sunday morning | From Piazza Ballarò – in the Albergheria district – along Via Ballarò and to Corso Tukory
One of the oldest street markets (nearly 1,000 years old) in Palermo, Mercado Ballarò is a melting pot of cultures, foods, meats, live animals, fresh breads, and random household items including the perfectly stacked tennis shoes and strategically folded sweatshirts. Women with Louis Vuitton back packs and men in stylish brown coats meld with the young children and old women searching for their weekly ingredients. With a Middle Eastern flair, the market is packed, from elbow to elbow. It’s the man who screams the loudest gets the most business. “Radicchio,” he belts. The freshest in town.
