Food market in Italy

The largest open-air market in Europe, running most mornings across several squares — produce outdoors, fish and meat in the halls, and a genuinely mixed city doing its shopping. Saturday is the big day.

A street market threading the Capo quarter, less visited than Ballarò and just as loud — fish, offal, fruit and fried things eaten standing. Mornings, and closed by early afternoon.

A cast-iron market hall from 1874 — butchers, cheese and tripe stalls on the ground floor in the morning, a food court upstairs until late. The ground floor is the real one.

Genoa's covered market since 1899, in a former convent cloister off Via XX Settembre — produce and fish downstairs, a food hall on the upper level. The city's basil, and therefore its pesto, passes through here.

The neighbourhood market east of the centre, smaller than the Mercato Centrale and almost entirely locals doing their shopping. Mornings only, and there are a couple of very plain places to eat inside it.