Mercato Orientale
Built inside a former Augustinian cloister in 1899, the Mercato Orientale is one of Italy's most beautiful covered markets — a vaulted iron-and-glass hall where Ligurian farmers, fishermen, and foragers have traded every morning for over a century.
What's Inside
The stalls overflow with the building blocks of Ligurian cuisine: fat bunches of fresh basil (the essential ingredient for Genoa's own pesto), jars of hand-pounded trofie pasta, salt-crusted anchovies from Monterosso, and the small, sweet fagioli di Pigna beans that locals guard jealously.
The fish section at the back is a spectacle in itself — whole swordfish, glistening branzino, and buckets of mixed seafood destined for buridda (the local fish stew). Vendors shout prices, ice chips fly, and the smell is bracingly fresh rather than fishy.
Eating and Buying
Several stalls inside and around the market sell ready-to-eat food: focaccia genovese hot from the oven, farinata (a crispy chickpea pancake), and small cups of pesto for tasting. The covered arcade connecting the market to Via XX Settembre is lined with delicatessens and wine merchants worth browsing.
To shop like a local, arrive before 9 am when the best produce is still fully stocked and the light through the iron roof is at its most photogenic. The market closes at lunchtime (around 1 pm) and does not reopen in the afternoon.
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