Palermo: Sunday Markets Guided Walking Tour with sweet break

We start at 10 in the Vucciria, quiet on a Sunday morning, which is the best moment to understand what this square was and what it is becoming. Then Piazza Marina, where the Sunday antiques market fills the square under the giant ficus trees of the Giardino Garibaldi: vinyl, books, old photographs, furniture from the palaces of the centre. Ballarò comes next, the oldest market in the city, running since the Islamic period: fruit shouted out loud, panelle and arancine, the communities that kept it alive. The Albergheria, next door, is where the market stops being organised: stalls appear wherever they are needed, selling tools, spare parts, objects from emptied houses. Halfway through we stop at Pasticceria Cappello, where Palermitans go rather than tourists, for two small pastries each (the setteveli is the house classic, the cannolo is the other choice). Then the antiques market on Corso Alberto Amedeo, more specialised than Piazza Marina, and the Capo, the daily food market next to the courthouse, for olives, spices and the majolica Palermitans buy for their own kitchens. Some Sundays the city adds something: the Zagara plant fair at the Botanical Garden, seasonal markets, fair-trade stalls. When that happens, the walk follows. Your host introduces each market, tells you what is worth buying, and leaves you five or ten minutes at each one to shop.