Italy has supermarkets, but home refrigerators are tiny, because it's more typical to buy only that day's ingredients at the ...

butcher - macellaio
bakery - forno
produce shop - fruttivendolo
small grocery - alimentari

These small grocery shops are all over Italy, and usually a single room, like my favorite..
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
THANKS FOR FORWARDING THIS WEBPAGE, OR BETTER YET, THE EMAIL YOU RECEIVED, TO FRIENDS INTERESTED IN THE LATEST NEWS FROM TUSCANY. We don't send any junkmail or share our mailing list with anyone! James
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

This is the entire shop ...

 

... but it's packed! A big counter, 3 clerks, and delicious

things stacked floor to ceiling

 

It isn't self-service - you tell them what you want, and they
collect it for you. (See the prosciutto hanging?)

 

 

If you order sausage like I did, they wrap them

 

Fresh soft pasta made that morning, including the
local specialty in front, tortelli

 

The produce section, brought in each day. All local.

 

Fresh breads of every kind

 

Dried pasta

 

Sausages and meats of every kind, most produced within
50 kilometers of the shop

 

Limoncello, basalmic vinegar

 

For the top shelf, they bring a ladder

 

Homemade ragu, pesto, veal 'tonnato', olives

Frutti di mare (fruit of the sea), anchovies soaking in green
onions and olive oil

A two-feet high jar of dried porcini mushrooms from the
surrounding hills, sold by weight

Baccala (dried salt cod), used to make a local specialty

Fresh torts, a sack of coffee

 

Italian cheeses

 

Shelves and shelves of wine - very reasonable priced

 

Jars of black and white truffles (17euros), and also honey with truffles, which you eat on pecorino cheese (warning: this causes uncontrollable moaning)

 

Thanks for joining me !!! James

 

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