Ballarò

Mercato di Ballarò is a well-known historical market in Palermo. The permanent market extends from Piazza Casa Professa to the bastions of Corso Tukory towards Porta Sant'Agata.

The market is famous for the sale of first fruits that come from the Palermitan countryside. Ballarò is the oldest of the city's markets, frequented daily by hundreds of people, animated by the so-called abbanniate, that is, by the noisy calls of the sellers who, with their characteristic and colorful local accent, try to attract the interest of passers-by.

It looks like a mass of crowded stalls and with the street invaded by wooden boxes containing the goods which are continuously shouted, shouted at, chanted to advertise the good quality and good price of the products.

Ballarò is mainly a food market, mainly used for the sale of fruit, vegetables, spices, meat and fish, but you can also find household items for cooking and cleaning the house, as in the Capo and Vucciria markets.

Inside the market, greengrocers sell cooked foods and street foods, typical of Palermo cuisine, such as boiled or baked onions, panelle (chickpea flour pancakes), crocchè o cazzilli (potato croquettes), boiled vegetables, octopus, quarume (veal innards) and panino con la meusa (spleen sandwich).

If you are in Palermo go there in the morning and at least eat one thing, better three 😋.Read more