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What you can buy from a van

One of the things I love about living in small-town Italy is the vendors that come through selling stuff from the backs of vans or trucks.

Now, I’m not talking about the ones that come to the market on Tuesday.  I’m talking about the ones who drive through town, shouting out their wares via loudspeaker (or just by voice alone), stopping at certain points throughout town for the people to come out and buy.

We have our regular vendors:  the cheese-guy and the fish guy, both on Fridays, the frozen food guy on Thursdays, the household items guy (brooms, mops, etc.) once a month along with the kitchen parts guy and the table-cloth guy.  There’s someone selling fruits and vegetables just about every day.   Then there’s one who sells clothing every Friday/Saturday, one who sells animal feed, and one who sells live poultry.  Plus, we have one guy who sets up in the piazza on Tuesdays to sell Porchetta and another on Wednesdays with roasted chickens.

Besides the regular vendor there are the seasonal ones who come through with a truckload of favas or artichokes, mandarine oranges, etc. So, basically, you’ve got a mixture of all kinds of vendors.

This Saturday, I heard the distinctive unintelligible mumble of a loudspeaker and looked outside to see someone selling an item I never would have believed could be sold individually from the back of a van. And, they were only 5 euro apiece.

To top it off, it was raining.

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4 Comments

  1. Becky says:

    Can’t tell from the picture what they are. I’m assuming from the raining comment that they’re umbrellas?

    Reply

    Mary Reply:

    Sorry, yes, they’re umbrellas – only 5 euro each.

    Reply

  2. Scintilla says:

    They look like umbrellas to me- but they are rather steep at 5 euros even if they did fall off the back of a ‘van’.
    We don’t get these vendors at Positano. Just the fruit and vegie man on a wednesday at 12pm. By the time he arrives at our stop, he has already done the rounds of the town so there is not much left!

    Reply

  3. Mary says:

    To be honest, I don’t often buy stuff from the travelling vendors. Just the ones I know.

    Reply

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