Markets are both an Italian institution and tradition

The mercati are traditional neighborhood street markets that take place in most Italian municipalities and are often as ancient as the cities themselves.

Small towns tend to have a weekly mercato selling fresh produce and an assortment of other products.

We love exploring markets when we are in Italy.

Mercati are usually well stocked with underwear, clothes and shoes, tablecloths, fresh fruit and vegetables ...

impressive plaited garlic and onions ...

hard and soft cheeses ...

vibrant flowers, nuts and sweet treats.

and maybe a pot of basil and a cyclamen if we were staying at the Assisi house for a few weeks.

Besides budgies and rabbits, pet stalls might sell surprising livestock like baby squirrels and tiny turtles.

At one mercato we spotted a stall selling fish. Ah, fresh fish for dinner – only to find all the fish was dried. Hmm, we weren't game to try it.

Lumps of raw meat and a range of suspicious-looking animal products hung from hooks at another stall. Hairy boar heads peered down at us, their tusks draped with sausages.

A must is to find a van selling porchetta panini – crusty bread rolls filled with succulent, heavily seasoned and roasted pork, sliced while you watch from a whole roasted pig laid out on a slab. It is delicious!

A friend wanted to buy a pair of jeans and she asked the vendor if she could try them on. He pointed to the back of his truck. A cloth strung across the back of the van provided some privacy.

Whether it’s a small collection of vendors gathered in a piazza, or a large street market linked to a town’s medieval festival, each mercato is an experience of local life and culinary delights. Every trip to Italy should include visiting at least one.