LE STORIE
10
Fabio Gallerini with his very long and sparkling fish counter, started in 1959: «Every morning I wake up at 3 to attend the auctions in Livorno,» he says, «because here freshness is counted on the hours. The target is high, you look for quality before price.» Between the deli and the cheese shop eyes are filled by the selection of cured meats, goat cheeses and pecorinos, to be paired with the ancient grains bread loaves of Montespertoli, and instead the only trattoria on the market belongs to Rocco, «arrived by train from Basilicata when he was 14 years old» as his son Palo recalls, working by his side. «The clientele is mostly Florentine, from workers to students,» on the table are pasta and ribollita, meatballs and stew «with a nice bottle of wine at the centre.» The added value, everyone remembers it, is the ambiance: «Even if you’re in a bad mood, you always find the character that makes
you change your mood.» Among many long-time vendors we find some who have more recently started here, for example Marco who was a baker and now cooks lampredotto: «The market is a particular world, where everyone gets along and nobody gets along» and he laughs, bringing out the naked character of the Florentine. Or Giuliana, more than a decade at the stove of a Chianti tavern and now owner of the only "civaiolo" in Sant'Ambrogio, renamed Il Cernacchino: spices, rice, legumes in bulk and selected, from zolfini beans from Pratomagno to lentils from Castelluccio. Those who have been here for a long time are complaining a little about the economy,» he says, «it seems to me instead that the market is a happy haven.» And we too, at least for today, like to think so, if only for the story of a Florence that's very difficult to trace elsewhere.
GAMBERO ROSSO
84
MAGGIO 2022
8. A farmer’s stall at the CIA market in Piazza della Libertà 9. Sant'Ambrogio Market: the Lanini Butcher’s Counter since 1980 and, behind, the RistoMacelleria Terrazza Menoni 10. Sant'Ambrogio Market: Cernacchino selling loose "civaie" (seeds and grains, in Florentine and Valdarno dialect)