Grocery Store Surprises: a Rome SMA

Different kind of cart

Rome grocery stores--the chains that is--are not all that different from American stores. They're smaller yes, but they have a similar mix of departments and items.  Unlike some state-side stores, where legislation prohibits the sale of alcohol, Rome/Italian stores all stock wine--and better quality than that carried by the California stores we know.  Another difference is how metal shopping carts are regulated. In the US, you just grab one and go.  In Italy--at the big stores in Rome, at least--it takes 50 ore more centessimi (Euro cents) to free the cart from the lineup; you get it back when you return the cart.  Most stores also provide smaller, plastic carts with handles and wheels for which no deposit is required (guess which ones we use)..

Underdressed shopper

Despite the similarities, as a tourist one can still be surprised at what one finds inside one of those Rome supermarkets.  On our last visit to the city, we were regular customers at a SMA, tucked in behind the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.


The first surprise was a scantily clad cut-out in one of the aisles. It's safe to say you'll see nothing quite this provocative in the US, where prudishness--or one might say decorum--prevails.

Culture at Checkout

The second surprise was of another sort altogether. Across from the checkout lanes was a series of murals, illustrating the store's neighborhood setting, but nostalgically so, in a era before the automobile.


One of the murals (above right) featured a piazza and courtyard on the backside of San Giovanni in Laterano--a place seen by thousands of Romans from their automobiles every day, but one seldom visited and relatively obscure.

Another mural was more of a mystery.  The scene depicted somewhat resembles the intersection of via Druso and viale delle Terme di Caracalla, perhaps a mile from the store.  The curious "booth" at the center looks like one at that intersection, and the ruins in the background may be the baths.  No matter, we loved the dash of "culture" at the checkout counter!   Bill

Terme di Caracalla?  

The Wine Report: Grocery Store Whites

There are lots of things that are expensive in Rome, but wine isn't one of them.  If you're hooked on the grape, think about traveling to the Eternal City as a money-saving opportunity.  Every sip, more savings. There are some who think you have to go to a dedicated wine store to get quality, and when we want a bottle to take to a friend's home, that's where we go.  But for everyday consumption, there are quality wines to be had at--horrors--the grocery store.  In New York, of course, the grocery stores aren't allowed to sell wine, and in California, where the sale is allowed, the available wines are for the most part familiar, ordinary, and often expensive.



Rome is different.  Most of the chain stores--SMA and Carrefour were our mainstays--stock a nice selection of affordable wines of reasonable quality.  We're white wine drinkers (as we've noted before on the blog), so here are some of our favorite GROCERY STORE WHITES:

Fiano Sannio

Fiano Sannio.  EURO 4.40  One seldom finds Fiano--the name of the grape--in the US.  But it's common in Rome grocery stores.  This one is from Solopaca, in Campania. It's good without being great.  Dianne described it as mildly tasty, rather undistinguished, a little flat, very yellow, and "pretty nice."  "Good for people who don't like too much "profumato"--perfumed quality--in the wine.  Bill found it very pleasant, with no bad notes, and quite flavorful.  A value at less than 6 bucks a bottle.

Villa Folini Ribolla Gialla, 2013.  EURO 6.29  The "brand" is Villa Folini, the grape Ribolla Gialla--seldom seen in the states.  It's from the Venezia region, bottled in the border city of Gorizia.  Despite the name Gialla, which means yellow, it's light in color.  Bill thought it "quite sophisticated," though how he would know

Ribolla Gialla.  On the dining table in our big room in Rome.

this isn't clear.  Dianne said it was "smoother than the other ones."  More expensive than some, but an excellent value nonetheless.  You could take this to a dinner party.

Circeo Blanco

Circeo D.O.P. Blanco Villa Gianna.  EURO 3.49 [really cheap].  Circeo is a hill town/beach community located on the sea less than a 2-hour drive from Rome.  The big hill is fun to climb and from the top there's a fantastic view of the  curving beach to the north.  Circeo wines aren't normally considered to be high quality, but our experts thought otherwise, at least on this occasion.  Dianne tasted a "bit of citrus" while announcing that the wine was "not wimpy...I like that."  Bill's opinion has been lost.  The wine is a combination of Trebbiano, Chardonnay, and Malvasia grapes.  Malvasia, found in many Italian whites because it is so easy to grow, is not known as a distinguished grape.

Muller Thurgau

Muller Thurgau Storie di Vite.  Trentino doc., 2013.  EURO 6.49  Your wine critics used to drink lots of Muller Thurgau, thinking they were very sophisticated.  Their consumption has been much reduced since they learned that it's generally thought of as a rather ordinary grape.  The tasters had different opinions.  Bill, who never found a white wine he didn't like, described a "balanced mix of fruit and savory."  Dianne [who prefers her wines "dry"] thought it "on the sweet side, relatively."

Malvasia

Malvasia Terra de li Pallavicini.  EURO 3.83.  Malvasia is the grape--again, not a distinguished grounding
for the wine.  The Pallavicini are no doubt a family, or they were, and "terra" refers to their land. The wine comes from Lazio, the region of which Rome is a part, so it's local.  Dianne pronounced it "better than Pinot Grigio," which isn't saying much because she finds nearly all Pinot Grigio to be undistinguished.  It's "pleasant," she added, a bit "flat" and "uninspired, but "adequate if you're returning from a trip and need a drink."  No doubt she was returning from a trip and needed a drink.  Bill: "not bright or flinty," but tasty.

Tenuta Ca' Vescovo

Tenuta Ca' Vescovo.  EURO 6.35  Tenuta means something like "homestead," and Ca' means "house of." The wine is from mountainous Friuli, in the northeast of Italy, from whence come many fine whites.  According to the bottle, the wine or the winery or both is/are very old--dating to the early 15th century.  Dianne:  "got a little profumato to it...it's not puny."  Bill:  "full-bodied, hints of apricots."



Bill

Two-bag Ladies: Grocery Shopping in Rome

They're "two-bag ladies," and they can be observed in large numbers, especially in the morning, in every Rome neighborhood: one or two plastic bags in each hand, transporting the day's groceries home from the market or one of the small shops that line the streets.

You won't find tw0-bag ladies in U.S. cities (New York may be an exception), because Americans drive to do their grocery shopping, usually at huge big-box stores where they lay in supplies for a week or more. There are no such stores in Rome proper; the largest grocery store in our Monteverde Nuovo area is about 1/10 the size of the Wegman's supermarket we frequent in Buffalo. And almost no one drives to the smaller ones that do exist, probably for fear of giving up a precious parking space near one's apartment; the parking lot at the SMA, a few blocks away, could be converted to a soccer field and no one would complain.

So they walk. Two-bag ladies, less often two-bag men (the men are to be seen chatting at the tables outside the bars, waiting for their women to show up with the groceries). And for the heavier loads, they use an inexpensive, highly functional two-wheeled cart. See photo at left.

The system works fine. It depends on a large number women who don't mind shopping every day or nearly every day and who don't have paying jobs to go to. Italy's weak economy, and weak feminist movement, produce women of this sort, and its pension system--featuring retirement at age 50--creates an ample supply of older folks for whom shopping may be the highlight of the day. Another requirement, met by the condominums that line every street, is high population density; no one need walk very far.

The fly in the ointment is Roman fondness for bottled water. The water comes in packages of 6 plastic bottles, suspended from a thin plastic strap, for carrying purposes. The unit weighs about 12 kilos (according to the bathroom scale) or about 26 pounds, and the uncomfortable strap requires alternating hands every 50 feet. Only a dumb American would carry this home. Hence the two-wheeled cart (above). Dianne says home delivery is common.

If the system has a downside, it is that the regular grocery stores--the supermarkets--are strange--Felliniesque, one might say--perhaps because so few shop in them regularly. Our SMA is on two floors, requiring the shopper to get from peaches to bread via one small elevator. The Todis, a discount chain --see photo at right--is on one floor, but it's not much larger than a 7/11, and it seems to exist to fuel nostalgia for Cold War Communism. Bill