Grocery shopping in Rome can be a pain - no 24-hour true supermarkets (no Wegmans - Buffalonians and Brooklynites). At the same time, it can be a great pleasure - as in, no 24-hour true supermarkets. We shop in open-air markets (our favorite, in Piazza San Giovanni di Dio, we've written about several times), mini-marts (ditto), the dying classic alimentari (small grocery/deli), and specialty shops. Among the pleasures we enjoyed in 2019, above - the incredible offering of wines under $3 in our local "super" (not at all large by US standards) market - and those above aren't the cheapest - you can also buy wine "sfuzi" - from a tap - fill up your own bottle, at even lower prices).
Part of what made our eyes pop is simply the quantity of what's being offered that one doesn't see in the US - the numbers of bottles of wine, the size of the gorgonzola, the multitude of waters (below), and the list goes on.
Left: in front of a Pigneto mini-market we found this list of prices for water - yes, that's all for different brands of bottled water (at least until you get to the Coca-Cola at the bottom). All selling for under Euro 3 (about $3.30 today) for 6 bottles of 1.5 liters each or more than 2 gallons of water. Romans still like their bottled water, even though the local water is quite good - though hard. Climate change may erode this practice over time.
Above, a small portion of the elaborate variety of desserts at our local cafe'/pasticceria (Fattore) in Pigneto. |
Left, enough salumi and prosciutto for you? (At a local, small market in Pigneto.)
It's not just food and drink. Below, we found this plethora of "sfuzi" (unpackaged - bring your own container) laundry detergent at a local market:
At the same market, we also could buy fruit and vegetables for the a single price/kilo - Euro 1.49 - by the way, that included bottles of wine.
Kiwi from Lazio |
Lemons from Amalfi |
Tarocco oranges from Sicily "natural, with leaves" |
Melinda apples from the Trentino (northern Italy); "offerta" = sale price |
The alimentari (small, classic, usually Italian-owned and run, grocery/deli) near us in Monteverde displayed its dog food outside:
"Ciociara bread- cooked over wood" |
Yes, that's me, taking the detour through the store. |
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