Foggy, Junky, Winter Day in Milan

Assago Flea Market

It was 32 degrees outside this morning at 6:00 and we were going scrounging for junk. I put on two pairs of pants, two sweaters, a down jacket and wool coat, two hats and gloves. Bundled. As ready as I could be. My long-time friend, painter Loredano, picked me up and we drove south into the thick fog to the crude, rough, full-of-junk-with-occasional-hidden-pearls flea market.

We arrived at 6:15 in dense fog. Sellers got there even earlier. The “sharks” – voracious buyers – perused with flashlights and headlights as merchandise was pulled from vans and trucks. There’s a lot of JUNK out there and I wonder why people bother carting it around, arranging it on the pavement or tables … and now and then, there’s a “gem”. But it’s all relative. I think of a quote from grocer Morris Manischewitz who said, 40 years ago, “People buy anything.” It’s true. They do.

If I see something that interests me, I motion to Loredano, who knows all the sellers and has been buying “antiques” for decades. He negotiates the price as one of “the regulars”.

In the U.S., if something is 50 years old, we call it an antique. Here, the antiques are 200, 300, 400+ years old. THOSE are antiques. We don’t even see such things at “antique stores” in the U.S.

As the fog lifted, the overhead lights cast a golden glow, and slowly we could begin to see without flashlights and cell phone lights. We bought a couple of old books, stayed for 2 hours, then headed back to the center of town.

Milan Mercatone Antiquariato Along the Naviglio Grande

The BIG antique market in Milan, along the Naviglio Grande (Grand Canal), is always scheduled for the last Sunday of the month. In the summertime, there’s barely standing-room-only, and the sellers’ stalls stretch out in all directions. But Christmas is next weekend, so the market was a week early. On a frigid, foggy, winter day, the stalls and buyers had room to spare, but there was still plenty to look at.

Prices are much higher than at the little flea markets scattered in small towns near Milan. Sellers know the market draws tourists, and they allegedly offer a more curated selection of goods. If nothing else, it’s fun to look.

Back in Milan, the fog had lifted, the sun was shining, and it was a 40 degree, pleasant winter day. Ahh. I bought a piece of twill-weave, “canapa” (hemp) fabric from which I want to make a couple of bath towels. It’s heavy and dense and SO absorbent!

Sunday Afternoon Lunch in the Countryside

After I had a brief nap (still catching up from jet lag), Loredano and I headed south. As we got away from buildings and solid pavement, the fog enveloped us. It was white-grey everywhere. Some of the trees at the roadside were thick with hoarfrost, and snow from last week remained in the fields.

We took so many back roads, roundabouts, turns and farm-field paths that I could never give directions to Ristorante Mulino di Limido in Zerboló. You have to know it’s there, and how to find it. We warmed ourselves by the big fireplace when we got there.

We ordered appetisers to start, and received cipolle sott’aceto (pickled onions, yum!), funghi chiodi (little mushrooms), insalata Russa (Russian Salad) and a meat plate of salame, coppa and speck. (I could have stopped there!)

There was no written menu, and though I speak only Italian when I’m here, it just doesn’t work for me to have a server rattle off the offerings for the day and expect me to pick one. Admittedly, I was flustered. (I’m such a visual person that I need to read the name and description, visualise the dish and THEN decide what I want.) The server was too impatient for me to do my visualisation. I ended up with a hunk of Argentinian beef sitting all by itself on a plain white plate. Loredano ordered merluzzo in umido, cod, kind of simmered with potatoes. We shared our dishes.

We ended our meal with Tiramisù (I had one bite), limoncello and un caffè. We then made our way northward, in the fog, to the city where the sunny sky opened up.

Back to the Mercatone

We went back to the canal, where the Mercatone was in full swing in the light of day, We wandered a bit, saw long-time friends, then split up for the day.

Fog and sunshine. City and country. Junk and treasure. Friends and strangers. Lovely, lovely.