La Vucciria Palermo – Market
The Vucciria Palermo market: Local markets are born with the city and often concentrate spontaneously in the central areas and play a key role in the development of the local economy.
“I, Agonzio Calandrino, cordaro, who have a shop in a street in the Grascia square called Bocceria Grande … I found myself in the morning of the Cinco Settembriro de lo one thousand and six hundred and Cinco in front of the shop intent on some boxes tidying up, I saw in the negotio de in front of my place is the sale of cloths for clothing and canvas of a young woman of very personal aitanza and opulentism as well as admirable for copy and gloss of hair … “
Thus begins the story of Andrea Camilleri directly inspired by the famous painting by Renato Guttuso dedicated to the Vucciria, the largest and most famous fruit and vegetable, fish and meat market in Palermo. “A narrator or a playwright, in front of the Vucciria, would have writing material until the end of their days,” writes Camilleri. “I know the vucciria well. In the years ’44 -’47 I attended the University of Palermo and almost every day I went there to eat ‘u panu cu’ a meusa of which I was very greedy. It was a place that opened the imagination. Because it was a place where events were possible that were impossible elsewhere. “
The Vucciria Palermo extends along the via Argenteria up to the Piazza Garraffello. In ancient times it was called the “Bucceria grande” to distinguish it from other less important markets. It was, in fact, the most important “piazza di grascia”, or food market in the old Palermo. The word “Bucceria” derives from the French “Boucherie”, which means “butcher”, since the market was initially intended for the sale of meat, and in Palermo, this term also became synonymous with noise, certainly due to the loud shouting that is made usually at the market.
Over the centuries, the Vucciria Palermo was enlarged and modified several times and in 1783 the viceroy Caracciolo wanted to give an organic and decent arrangement to the square, the heart of the market, which was called Piazza Caracciolo. Arcades were built around the square to form a square loggia which housed the sales counters. In the center was placed a fountain with four lions pouring water arranged around a small obelisk. It will resist in its original square shape with arcades for a few centuries; then the tampering began and at the beginning of this century, when the Via Roma was built, the neighborhood was redesigned and the square restricted. La Vucciria, today, is a market where everything is sold: meat, vegetables, fish etc.