Mercato delle Pulci

The story

The Mercato delle Pulci sits in a small square just behind the Cathedral, in an area of old craft workshops. It is the city’s market for second-hand goods and minor antiques.

It does not have the age of the food markets: in its present form it is a 20th-century market, grown up around the neighbourhood’s junk dealers.

The metal sheds that make it up have been the subject of redevelopment schemes, and the look of the market has changed several times in recent years.

Why it is worth it

You go to look rather than to buy: dismantled chandeliers, majolica tiles, holy cards, posters, furniture and scrap iron. It is the reverse of the food markets, the place where houses end up when they are cleared. Half an hour is enough, and it falls on the walk from the Cathedral towards the Capo.