Our group guide encouraged us to walk through and see all that Siracusa had to offer at this mercato. With very little time to shop my goal was cheese. While we did pass the famous sandwich shop with a line out the door we continued into the busy market area. Fish was displayed beautifully and looked so fresh. Spices, nuts and huge mounds of tomato paste were very doing a brisk business with local cooks. If only I could bring it all home. We spotted a cheese stand with large wedges of parmesan already shrink wrapped. The price seemed reasonable and the man selling was charming. No haggling, we paid the man! If you go ask you guide to accompany you to help find deals and what is in season. This market also has lots of clothing, belts, ceramics, handbags and trinkets seen all over Sicily.

We had seen accolades for the Ortigia market in media posts so it was a disappointment to hear from our hotel that it was open every day but the weekend when we were in town. When our day of departure Monday rolled in, however, Cherry Wonderdog was not to be denied. We made our way across Ortigia by foot and arrived at Il Mercato by the time it opened at 10 AM. Like many other open air markets in Europe, it was a festival of colors, sounds, and culinary temptation. One thing that was starkly different at this market, however, was the language. The vendors spoke Italian, so it was more difficult for us to understand. We could figure out basically what was being said though. “Best fruit in town right here!” “Today we have a promotion on this item – buy two kilos and get one free.” “Get your fish here! Get your fish!” The sounds were distinctly Sicilian – a shade of Italian quite lyrical in style, equally forceful in delivery. Most of the clothing in the market was low grade, but the locally grown food, aromatic spices, and layers of slimy fish looked appetizing. We treated ourselves to a fresh-squeezed pomegranate and lemon juice cocktail. The crowds were picking up as we made our way out of the market towards our next destination, La Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo. Cherry Wonderdog’s verdict was that Il Mercato di Ortigia was well worth visiting but not a “must see”; the world would not have come to an end if we had left Ortigia without seeing it.

Very busy market, most of the stalls selling the same sort of stuff. Worth a walk and a browse, if you like oysters it's cheaper here and they throw in a glass of wine to wash it down. Very hot and it seems to keep going for ever, you get a motorbike going through the middle if your lucky. Sit in one of the bars and have a cold one and people watch, guzzling oysters and wine, sounds delightful.

Typical Europe market. Fun with lots of good and bad smells and sights . I spent a week in Ortigia so went to the market 4 times to buy produce and meats as we stayed in an AIRBNB so we had lots opportunity to cook in. I found most of the produce best in town along with the best butcher. What i don’t understand is the lack of hygiene in some of the stands such as fresh fish sitting out in the August heat with flies dodging. Dried fruits with bees swarming and dodging. Unrefrigerated cheese stands. If you look beyond these issues there are plenty of vendors that display food properly in store fronts with refrigerated products and protected glass which makes ortigia worth visiting. *** surprised the ortigia health/agricultural department allows this