The loudest, wettest, most theatrical market in Sicily. Fishmongers sing out prices over swordfish, tuna and glistening anchovies, and the fry stands hand you lunch in a paper cone.
The market tumbles down the steps from the Amenano fountain into a sunken piazza below the old city walls, then spreads into the surrounding lanes.
On the slabs: whole swordfish with their swords pointing skyward, slabs of red tuna, silver anchovies and sardines, mussels, and sea urchins split open to order and eaten on the spot.
Around the fish are butchers, cheese stalls and olive sellers, and fry stands selling paper cones of fried fish. The fishmongers call their prices in dialect; it is part show, part business.
It runs Monday to Saturday mornings, busiest from 8 to 11, and is closed on Sunday. For lunch, sit at one of the trattorias in the market, or take a cone from Scirocco's fish lab.
Come hungry and stay until lunch.
Take the steps from the fountain into the sunken piazza as the boats' catch is laid out.
Watch the fishmongers carve steaks to order with cleavers the size of an arm.
The side streets sell everything else for a Sicilian kitchen.
Ask for a few ricci opened on the spot and eat them with bread.
Pasta con le sarde or grilled fish at a market trattoria, or a cone at Scirocco.
From Piazza del Duomo, take the steps beside the Amenano fountain.
If you have a kitchen, buy fish here; vendors will clean and fillet it for you.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
