Italian Shops - Everything Has a Specialty

Supermarkets and big-box stores (more or less the equivalent of Lowe’s or Kmart) exist in Italy, especially near the bigger city centers. But in the small towns that we like to visit (and in which we live!), the individual shops - often family-operated - are often the most convenient. They’re also where you can get the best service - the folks working there are invested in and take pride in offering good products and helpful assistance when needed.

Our own town has several of each of these shops - people go to the ones closest to them, or to the ones where they know (or are related to) the proprietors. 

Here are a few of the shops you can look for in a typical small Italian town. 

Ferramenta: This is a hardware store - nearly every town, no matter how small, has at least one. Here you’ll find all the basic household fix-it items - tools, screws and nails and hooks, work gloves, tape, planters and other garden stuff, paint, laundry line (and of course the associated hardware needed to mount it!) - you name it! It’s all stored in a surprisingly small space, and sometimes out on the sidewalk. One other interesting point is that you can buy a single nail, or a single screw….no need to buy boxes of things (though you can purchase those too).

Ferramenta and Farmacia

Farmacia: The pharmacy is often the first stop if you’re not feeling well (or if your wife just broke her toe on the sofa). Pharmacists can often offer you medicine that would not be available over the counter in the US, and also help diagnose small maladies.

The farmacia is where people pick up their prescription and over-the-counter meds, as well as anything else associated with general wellness - pain reliever, antacid, band-aids. Many of these items are not generally available in grocery stores - with the exception of the largest supermarkets, which may have an attached pharmacy of their own.

At the farmacia you will also find specialty creams, shampoos, cosmetics, supplements, and natural medicines.

Macelleria: The butcher shop is one of several key food vendors in any town. All cuts of beef, lamb, and pork, as well as sausages and chicken. Plus there will often be game meats like rabbit, pigeon, or deer, among others. They’ll sometimes have salumi as well - cured meats like salami and prosciutto. (A norcineria is a butcher specializing in pork - often you’ll see one of these with a porchetta display outside. This is a delicious Italian specialty - pork rolled up and seasoned and roasted and served as a panino or to take home to eat as a meat course.)

Frutteria or Fruttivendolo: This is the produce shop, which are often getting their frutta e verdura (fruits and vegetables) from local producers. These are among our favorite places to shop, and they will often have more variety (especially among local seasonal items) than big box stores, plus the owners can often advise you as to best cooking practices for some of the vegetables and fruits you may not recognize.

Panificio: Often the first stop for any shopping list, the bakery makes bread daily - you’ll often smell it before you see it. They often also offer flatbreads topped with tomato sauce and/or cheese like a pizza, usually baked in a giant rectangle and sold in squares by weight. 

Cartoleria: This stationery shop sells paper, cards, writing implements, envelopes and the like. The one in our town happens to be right next door to an arts-graphics studio (think Kinko’s, but owned and operated by one person), if you’re not crafty yourself.

Tabaccheria: This is what it sounds like, the tobacco shop. Cigarettes and cigars, and also assorted other items - stamps, bus tickets, scratch cards.

Fiorista: Stop at the florist for a gift or special occasion - they’ll wrap it up nice and pretty for you - or just to dress up your front steps or window boxes at home. 

Food trucks: Sometimes appearing at the town’s weekly market, or on other designated days, you’ll often see trucks selling fresh seafood or meats and cheeses or produce, as well as ready-to-eat "street food” - we almost always stop for the porchetta truck! You’ll see these in town, but you’ll find them also on the outskirts, or even on the highways between towns - depending on where they live, for some people this is the primary stop for their shopping. 

Elettrodomestici (household appliances), pastificio (pasta shop), casalinghi (cleaning supplies) - if you name it, there’s probably a specialty shop for it.

Buona spesa!