#157 Fiera di primavera

Spring Fair

Hello friend,

It’s no secret I’m a fan of open-air markets. I love trawling through every stand, exploring what I can find.

My Sicilian-themed blog (sicilyinsideandout.com) features photos of African wood carvings, crafty jewellery, fun discoveries, endless market randomness, and textures.

I enjoy the colours, the sounds and the chaos. A Sicilian market is loud, crowded, highly pigaldy, a little bit dodgy, some things are cheap as hell, other things are unexpected, but above all, it’s a great place to sit and observe people. I may not necessarily buy anything of substance, but it’s a great excuse to walk for kilometres, browse, haggle, find a good bargain and have an authentic Sicilian experience.

A Sicilian market contains everything from fresh produce, antiques, and fabrics to bric-a-brac.

Every year I spend in Sicily is made up of annual appointments with big Sicilian markets and fiere (/fiè·re/), which are big brothers to the simple daily food markets that bring together many vendors from other provinces together with livestock.

A spring Fiera previews what you will see in the stores during the summer, while an autumn one often brings a chance to find unique gifts or decorations for the tree without the Christmas rush.

Often, visitors to Sicily criticise markets as places filled with cheap Chinese rip-offs, which sadly is a valid lament. Over the years of the never-ending economic crisis in Europe, many boutique operations and family businesses selling beautiful products have closed down, moving overseas to cut costs, leaving space for dreaded cheap imports to fill in the gaps.

I’m afraid my beloved Sicilian markets are no longer the same as they were 20 years ago when I first moved to Sicily. However, many stores still have stalls at big fairs and events. And you never know what you will find.

In my little piece of Sicily in Messina province, most locals have an appointment with the Fiera at Capo d’Orlando on the 21st and 22nd of October, which is associated with the feast day celebration of the local Madonna, the city’s patron.

During the year, many other places in Sicily host big markets, from Randazzo at the feet of Mt Etna to the little town of Mojo Alcantara, famous for its doughnut peaches. Even Taormina hosts a wonderful antique market once a month.

The possibilities are endless when it comes to open-air markets.