Italian Weekly Markets

I use shopping in a local street market for many reasons when visiting Italy:

 credit for this photo from the
web site  http://www.lamescolanza.com/mercatini/puglia.htm.  

1.  great photo opportunity
2.  feel like a local (if you don't speak)
3.  learn first hand what kitchen tools are used, what fashions are most popular
4.  listening to the other shoppers
5.  to replace an item I lost while traveling, forgot to bring with me or as I prefer to do,  replace throw away clothes...    I bring old items and discard them along the way.  Sometimes I will leave them in a hotel room:  tote bags, good handbags and other times I have put most of my clothes in a donation box prior to flying home
It is cheaper than the extra luggage fees at the airport and now I have room for Italian treasures....

On a previous trip I was given a discount on a purchase and was told by the vendor 'when you return, you have a cafe'.    This year I returned and in the pouring rain visited him at his stall.   I am sure he did not remember me and since I had only been in Italy 4 days my 'remembered Italian' was very poor.  But he understood why I was there and trying to repay his kindness.   Italians may think I am odd or  pazzo, but encounters such  as these make my trips memorable.

So much to see and learn from a street market
  For a link to the market through out Italy and more on the art of 'market negotiations' see my post on http://www.hometoitaly.com

What is the strangest item you have ever bought in a street market?