Shopping an early morning activity

Shopping or la Spesa is an early morning activity in Italy. Shops of all kinds open usually around 09:30 am while fresh produce markets, Mercato Aperto, all over the city in Rome open usually around 08:30 am. Everyone goes out to shop early, you only need to buy food for the day and usually in a few minutes your shopping is done, on the weekend you need to shop for Sunday also unless you go out for the big lunch in a restaurant with friends and family. All the coffee bars also open early,serving tea sandwiches called Tramezzini and pastries called Cornetto and of course Espresso or Capucino. The pizzas makers are also open early, they sell pizza squares not wedges, it is easier to eat that way and also offer pieces of roasted chicken with rosemary roasted potatoes and other things like rizotto balls with tomatoes and meat with mozarella, suppli al telefono or on Saturday's roast pork sandwiches Porchetta. Only one type of shop will open at Noon time and that is your Gelato store. In the early morning Gelateria are making the fresh gelato to be sold that day, no fillings or chemicals or additives, everything is fresh based on very old recipes that are followed carefully to enhance freshness and taste. Some gelateria now offer ''gluten free'' ice cream, other specialize in Sicilian style ice cream, others follow the seasons and offer fruit ice cream made fresh the very morning with the whole fruit mixed into the recipe, gives you a very flavorful ice cream and a wonderful rich taste. You can buy 1 kilo of ice cream about 2.2 lbs for 15 euros or about $18 dollars. You can buy less of course from a simple cone for about 1 euro. So worth it and so good.

I really enjoy early morning shopping, most shops are family owned, there is no big box or shopping malls, they have been kept outside the city limits by the Government, so if you want to go to the mall you really have to drive out of the city. It is so nice not to have shopping malls and strip malls, a blessing really. Shopping in small stores, you get a far better deal and you also get personal service.

I have favorite stores for almost everything I want to buy from food items, pet store supplies, clothing, toiletries, drug stores, fresh produce and gelateria. There are so many specialty shops and they all appear to cater to their neighborhood customers. You get to talk with shop owners and often you will get the personal touch, if you are a regular customer they will really take care of you. You also develop the neighborhood feeling, you see your neighbors, it is a very nice feeling. This is something I will miss when we leave Rome and will stay with me as a memory of our time here. A quality of life typically Roman.