On the last Sunday of the month, one can browse Antiques and Flea-Market-Finds for as far as the eye can see (2 kilometers), on both sides of  the Naviglio Grande, the Grand Canal. (This canal intersects with the Naviglio Pavese, the one I ride my bike along.)

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There is still some limited boat traffic along the canal when they’ve let the water in.

The antique sellers’ stalls also stretch far out into the side streets that branch off of the canal.

Linens? Oh yes. I find plenty. And they’re gorgeous. And the sellers know what they have and charge prices accordingly. There are few, if any, “steals” here. But the high quality linen and cotton, with the embroidery and open-work stitching, are superb examples of the old European linens. (I would love to buy them all up… but for what?)

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Beautiful, finely-crafted instruments of all sorts! The asking price of this Astrolabe was 700 Euro. (Cough, cough. Roughly $1000 right now.) But it was lovely.

I don’t even know what this Parisian instrument is.

These look like porcelain portraits of Mao and his family.

An interesting assortment of portraits.

It is startling to me how often I see the American flag, or some representation of it.

Isn’t this luggage out of the stereotypical “Italian Holiday Travel Movie”?

The dog matches the upholstery. I missed him at first.

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Smile. I’m on Candid Camera (for my Seester.)

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This guy sold horse figures of every sort.

I had been walking around for hours and stumbled upon some finds. “How much for this group of papers and books?” “50 Euro.” “How about 40?” How about 45 and you let me buy you a drink.” I laughed. It caught me completely by surprise. I bought the papers and books for 45 Euro and Graziano and I stepped 10 feet across the cobblestone and had a glass of cold white wine at a Sushi Bar on a hot afternoon and talked for a little while. So funny. But it was a pleasant and charming break.

Cool hat box. (Cool typography.)

As the warm afternoon waned, the cafés started to fill with people enjoying the Milanese aperitivo. The musicians showed up in the old Vicolo dei Lavandai, the washing station of the 19th century where women gathered to scour their clothes against washboard stones as their wash water flowed off into the canal.

Who’da thought I’d see this?! Wait! I should have bought the one a few issues back: Settembre 1957!

Packing up to go home, this man still wore hat, bow tie and white coat as he packed his lamps into a salami box.

So now, do you have an idea of what’s for sale at an Italian Antique/Flea Market?