If the townsperson does not go to the countryside… there are the farmers’ markets!
In Lucca there are a full three, in the historic centre and in the historic site of the Foro Boario, just outside Lucca, at the entrance to the river park, and a holiday cannot be called such if one does not taste the local flavours and recipes.
A morning at the market is an unmissable experience for townspeople and also for those who are in Lucca on holiday, because only at the farmers’ market can one get to know the true seasonal products, the local varieties unknown just a few kilometres away, the secrets of cultivation and learn, directly from those who grow them, or from the other customers, the best way to prepare them.
Wednesday is the turn of MercoledìBio, the organic market of Piazza San Francesco, part of the circuit of the Earth Markets of Slow Food. As they say: a small market, but nothing is missing. Vegetables galore, seasonal, very fragrant and of gaudy colours; summer is the season of abundance! First among all the canestrino tomato, a local variety that is also a Slow Food presidium and that keeps company with the other varieties grown for the most diverse uses (in this regard… consult the farmers…), the red onions, the salads, the ever-present courgettes (pale ones, let it be clear!) to be cooked in a thousand ways, the spicy radishes, the green beans and the legendary “stringhe”, the fresh long and tasty beans and, at the end of August, the red bean of Lucca, also a Slow Food presidium, and the highly appreciated cannellino.
And then the sheep’s and cow’s cheeses, the extra-virgin oil of the hills of the Compitese, honey of many varieties, the anti-waste preserves of the cooperative, the meat of the Cinta pig, fresh or processed, the flours of ancient grains and the wood-fired bread.
The laziest can take home the products of the market cooked in the kitchens of Sole and Stefano of the Mecenate restaurant and of the osteria dello Stellario, again on the piazza San Francesco.
On Thursday morning, in Piazzale Verdi at the tourist reception centre, the market of Campagna Amica, the short-supply-chain market where one can find the best flavours of the territories of the province of Lucca: from the zero-mile fish of the Tyrrhenian Sea to the cheeses of the Garfagnana, by way of the flowers and plants of Versilia (remember that fish too has its seasons, but this the fishermen of the market will tell you better) and the seasonal vegetables freshly harvested by the farms of the territory.
From here to the guided visit of the most beautiful monuments of the city the step is short, very short. The cathedral, where the months of the year are depicted intent on the works of the countryside, and the places of the food markets of the past, the amphitheatre square and the streets around the ancient Roman forum, perhaps accompanied by a tourist guide (take a look here https://www.turismo.lucca.it/offerte)
Alternatively the shopping concludes with some good wine to be tracked down in the cellars of the wine bars of the historic centre.
At the Foro Boario, outside the porta Santa Maria (for the people of Lucca the porta Giannotti), the farmers’ market is held on Saturday.
From the early hours of the morning the nineteenth-century roofs of what was the animal market host the numerous stalls of the producers who bring the colours and flavours of summer from the nearby countryside. A must of this market is the presence of the students of the nearby agricultural school. If you need a piece of advice, a curiosity about an unknown vegetable, this is the moment to ask it.
As in the best tradition, at the market there is also the florist’s stall, so that the summer table may be suitably festive.
Our advice, since it is Saturday, is to take advantage of a basket of vegetables, cheeses and fresh fruit and of the good freshly baked bread to organise a snack in the nearby river park.
The farmers’ market, besides being the occasion to choose the fresh products of the territory, is an opportunity to get to know those who build and carefully guard the splendid Tuscan landscapes that the whole world admires in us.
In short, if the townsperson does not go to the countryside… they might discover an excellent occasion to do so!
