Italy Part 6: Piazza Santo Spirito Flea Market

On the second Sunday of every month, a flea market is set up in the Piazza by the Santa Spirito.  A fascinating mish-mash of the good, the ugly, the delicious and the seemingly useless all gather into one place for the local and tourist alike to peruse at leisure.




The entire place is packed with sellers and shoppers, all looking to score the perfect deal, or turn over some old, neglected treasure.

Diver's helmet, anyone?




I have a serious weakness for handmade, hand-cut soaps.  There's something just so perfect about their less than perfect edges, their somtimes craggy exteriers, and their alluring herbal fragrances.  The only problem is, I am in love with the experience of being surrounded by tables of it.  This is clearly not practical, and so, in lieu of buying the whole booth, I moved on empty-handed.




I was truly surprised at some of the things that were up for sale.  Is there really that much of a demand for miniature cacti?




During our long car trip to Italy, I managed to knit (or finish up) three hats and three pairs of mittens for my little ones.  On days like this, they proved to be just the thing for blocking out the chill while enjoying time outside.




I love baskets, but unfortunately, we were packed to our eyeballs in the car with no room to even think about picking up a few of these.




The selection of dried fruit and candy at this stall was rather extensive.




We stopped to have a snack and played around the fountain:




Then we ate a fine lunch of beef intestine sandwiches (Lamprodotto) and thick chestnut crepes filled with fresh ricotta (Necci con Ricotta), before we headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap.



Check out these pictures and more in the photoset: Piazza Santo Spirito Flea Market

Next post: Famous leaning tower.

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