La Pescheria (Catania fish market)

La Pescheria is the fish market of Catania, held in the lanes behind Piazza Duomo around Piazza Alonzo di Benedetto, in the old centre of the city in eastern Sicily, Italy. It is a working wholesale and retail market rather than a souvenir bazaar, and the goods are almost entirely food: whole swordfish and tuna laid out on marble slabs, anchovies, sardines, octopus, clams, mussels and sea urchins, along with butchers, cheese sellers and fruit and vegetable stalls in the surrounding streets. This focus on fresh, local produce is what separates it from generic shopping in the nearby Via Etnea shopping streets, where brands and boutiques dominate. Vendors are local fishmongers and families who have traded here for generations, so the ratio of authentic goods to tourist trinkets is very high; the few souvenir stands at the edges are minor. Sellers advertise their catch with loud, sing-song calls in Sicilian, which forms a large part of the atmosphere. The market is at its liveliest in the early morning, when restaurateurs and households buy the day's catch, and it thins out and is cleaned down by early afternoon. Stalls are open-air and set out along narrow, wet and sometimes slippery lanes, with a central cluster of fish stalls and produce and meat stalls spreading into the side streets. Prices are normally marked or stated per kilogram, light haggling is possible when buying larger quantities but is not expected for small purchases, and cash is by far the most common payment method. Tax-free shopping refunds do not apply to market stalls. Food options are on site in the form of street-food stalls, and several trattorias and seafood restaurants nearby will cook fish bought at the market or serve the same catch. Visitors without a kitchen can eat grilled or fried seafood at nearby eateries, or simply watch the trading. Footwear with a good grip and an early start are the most useful preparations.