La Pescheria

 

Catania has a really great market every day called La Pescheria, the fish market. It is up from about 8 am to 2 pm every day except Sunday. There are many smaller markets in towns around Catania on certain days of the week, but La Pescheria is known as the biggest. 

The market is right in downtown Catania and takes up about 10 blocks where they only allow pedestrians. Nathan and I went on a Thursday and it was busy.

It is called the fish market, but it also has many other foods.

Fresh fruits and veggies at amazing prices.

Here are some sun-dried tomatoes that looked amazing. 

These carrubes are in season here and we have some on a tree in our new yard. The housing agent told us you just pick them from the tree and eat them raw. They are tough, with a little sweet taste and are apparently good for digestion.

We were told these figs are from Mt. Etna's soil which makes them extra nutritious. They were very sweet and delicious. We got a kilogram of them, 2.2 pounds, and they were definitely better the first day. We found that about a lot of the fresh foods at the market. It was best to eat them very soon after we got them. I guess that is why they have the market every day!

These were some very good smelling roasted vegetables.... red peppers, onions, and eggplant.

These were delicious peanut brittle type treats. They had different nuts in them like pistachio and almond. The vendor gave me a huge sample, so I had to buy some - yum!

There were also some veggies that I hadn't seen before. I will be doing my research next time to identify and figure out how to use some of the unique items we saw.

There were many delicious cheese stands. We got samples of lots and purchased the Sicilian cheese, Pecorino. It was a hard, Parmesan type cheese with bits of pepper in it. We loved it!

Spices

Olives!

And, of course, there was a lot of fish

Most of the tables make displays out of the fish parts. 

Here is a table displaying a swordfish head on the back left part of the table.

The market was great to explore. Since the commissary ships all the produce in from the states, the market is a much fresher (and cheaper!) option for us to shop at. We will definitely be there often.