Sicily Palermo Mercato

Let's say, however, that every self-respecting Palermo knows which market to choose based on what to buy. The most important historical markets of Palermo are: Ballaro, Vucciria, Capo, Borgo Vecchio.

Ballaro is the oldest and largest market in the city, in fact it extends from Piazza Casa Professa to the ramparts of Corso tukor.

Some time ago it was more gathered around Piazza Ballaro which, as Gaspare Palermo says in his Guide of 1800, was “a square of grascia in the district of Albergheria, bislunga in shape and not very wide, whose floor paved with wide flints”. In these few lines we can perhaps concentrate the whole world of Ballaro who lived for so many centuries in the shadow of the church of the Carmelite Fathers. "Piazza di Grascia" indicates the specialization of the various shopkeepers, that is, sale of food (grascia).

This market is still the one that, in the common sense of Palermo, is intended for the sale of first fruits and everything that comes from the neighboring countryside or, from European countries. It dates back to the time of Arab domination.

There are several theories on the etymology of the word Ballaro: a first hypothesis is that it derives from Bahlara, the name of a village, near Monreale, where the goods to be sold came from, or from Ag-Vallaraa