By Shelby Olson
The Sant’Ambrogio Market is an indoor and outdoor market filled with fresh meat, fish, fruits, and vegetables and is a great place to do your weekly grocery shopping if you want to shop locally, inexpensively, and keep up with what is in season this month.
There are many great supermarkets throughout Florence to buy fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish, but you are not always sure where your products are sourced considering supermarkets worldwide favor industrialized products. Luckily, Florence is home to a lot of great local markets that sell all these products that are guaranteed fresh, inexpensive, and locally sourced.
One of the most important things to know when visiting a local market is, what is in season and what is not. During the month of July you can find many fresh fruits and vegetables to add to your pantry. The fruits in season for the month of July are apricots, blackberries, cherries, figs, loquats, melons, nectarines, raspberries, plums, strawberries, and watermelon. The vegetables in season for the month of July are aubergine, arugula (rocket), basil, garlic, lettuce, spanish, swiss chard, turnip greens, beans, carrots, cucumber, fennel, green beans, mint, peas, taccole green beans, tomato, and zucchini.
FUA’s Italian language faculty, Francesca Peruzzi, recommends the Sant’Ambrogio Market because all of the products are fresh and prices are cheaper than most especially when shopping for six people. Francesca goes to Sant’Ambrogio once a week and here’s what she shared when I asked her what’s usually inside her grocery bag:
• Proteins: meat, fish
• Grains and vegetables: bread, carrots, salad, chou, spinach, zucchini
• Fruit: apples, bananas, apricots
I recently had the chance to visit the Sant’Ambrogio Market and after prior research on what is in season, I could tell that Florence takes pride in selling the most fresh and seasonal fruits and vegetables possible. The inside of the market is packed with meat, fish, and bread vendors and the outside of the market is home to the fruit and vegetable vendors. As I was walking around, I decided to purchase apples from a fruit vendor and was astonished that not only were they cheap, but the taste was incredible. In the summer, my favorite thing to eat is a large bowl with an assortment of different fruits. With the fresh produce I found at the market, I am excited to make my favorite summer meal and make Florence feel more like home.
After my visit, I decided that you cannot beat cheap prices and fresh items and that this would be my new stop to get groceries for the last few weeks I have in Florence.
How to Visit:
Sant’Ambrogio Market: Piazza Lorenzo Ghiberti, 50122 Firenze
Monday-Saturday 7AM-2PM