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A trip to Livorno must include a visit to the Mercato Centrale.  For foodies and food lovers this is the place to go!  The Mercato is massive where you can find everything you would ever need from household items, dog food, seafood, meats, cheeses, breads, wine, fresh fruits and vegetables and anything else you can imagine! Everything was the freshest you could get!

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Cruise ships even give tours to their passengers of the Mercato as I would see them often on their tour.  But outside the Mercato there are still more vendors selling everything from buttons to boots and even more food vendors await you!  For blocks and block stalls lined the streets of Livorno! Except on Sundays when the bars and Mercato and the surrounding stalls were closed for the day! If you needed anything the supermarket was open!

Most days during my wonderful stay in Livorno, I would be like everyone else who lived in the city. I would go in the morning to buy the wine and food for the day and go back to the apartment with bags in hand!  This is a part of daily life in Livorno whether it was a walk to the supermarket or the Mercato to buy the just what you needed and go home and prepare the freshest food!  I enjoyed and looked forward to my visits to the Mercato. It is a beautiful way to live!

I wondered how I could possibly do this when I got back to the states where we buy in bulk and stock our refrigerator and freezer as if the blizzard of all blizzards were going have us housebound for an extended amount of time!  Living in the suburbs, I don’t think I have ever walked to the supermarket and when I do go to the supermarket I always look for the closest parking space!

So when in Italy do as the Italians do and enjoy it while you are there!  I know I did! The simple things of life bring so much that should never be taken for granted!

Check out this website La Porta del Tirreno for more information about Il Merato

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