Nevermind
that Venice is the most wonderful city in the world for long walks
unhindered by any wheeled vehicles, nor that it is gorgeously magical
in its all of its various forms and lights, it is an Italian city.
And as such, it does not neglect the art of the kitchen one bit.
Our signature image is a market boat tied to the side of a canal in Venice just behind the Rialto market area. This is certainly no accident. There is no mistaking the seriousness of Venetian (and all Italian) cooks about their ingredients. Not only is the Rialto market full of great, quality ingredients, but even the minor little boat markets that pop up here and there are wonders to behold.
Venice is also the current home of Marcella Hazan. She is deservedly regarded as one of the most knowledgeable teachers of Italian culinary tradition and practice. La dottoressa Hazan, the author of numerous internationally recognized cook books, also has a cooking school in Venice. What a marvellous coincidence of a great city with an unparalleled opportunity to learn about Italian cuisine
The photo of the Mercato Centrale is from the site www.firenzespecial.it Other photos of the market interior are available at that site.
Ingredients
bought in the Fall at the Mercato Centrale to cook include fresh Porcini mushrooms, Green
Beans, Red Peppers, Yellow Peppers, Salamoia olives, fiorentini olives, squash,
basil, rosemary, fiorentini tomatoes, luganiga sausages, salsiccia piccante,
eggs, cippolini (tiny yellow onions), lemons, capers in salt and pere abate
(long squat pears) that were a great dessert entirely by themselves.
Great fun to shop there and even greater fun to cook and eat these wonderful things.
Ingredients. Not everyone understands the primacy of ingredients. Sometimes the distinctive flavors of a cuisine are simply respect for great ingredients and some sensitivity about assembling them into dishes.
The main market of Naples is the Porta Nolana market not far from the train station. It meanders along several streets through the old stone gateway.
Seafood displays abound in this market and there are always dozens of types of mollusks and bivalves as well as great fish, crustaceons and octopi.
Mussels in Naples are a treat even for those who don't care much for them in the Stati Uniti (US).
The fish-based pasta sauces in Neapolitan restaurants are infinitely varied and sublime.
In the Quartieri Spagnoli (Spanish Quarter) there is also the Pignasecca Market - smaller in size but containing many great ingredients - especially fruit. The photo was taken in Via Pignasecca.
While Rome has many neighborhood and city-wide markets, one of my favorites is the one in the Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere.
In addition to all of the wonderful ingredients you expect to find in any Italian market, you will also find such unusual (agli americani) items as Chestnut Honey. Chestnut Honey is an acquired taste but can be very effective in small quantities to baste roasted lamb shank and pork loin.
The quality and variety of freshly-made sausage in an Italian meat stall or market is bewildering when compared to that of the average supermarket. Is it any wonder that a few links of these fresh sausages, some plum tomatoes and some olive oil can yield a superb pasta sauce which while being a "mere" assemblage of good ingredients is more than the sum of its parts - Julia Child notwithstanding?
A stone's throw from this piazza are many very fine restaurants among them "Antica Pesa" (the "old weight" - a scale or "bilancia" is the focal point of the entryway's decor) with very creative interpretations of contemporary Italian cooking, a marvelous building complete with interesting murals and very credible house-labeled Friuli wines with original label art by internationally-known artists