Little Hidden Treasures

Busses running, cars roaring in the streets, cars parked everywhere; the sun is shining high over the palaces and people looks for the shadow relief in every corner.

The hectic city goes on running as usual, people's cramming in the coaches but walking few steps away there's a street where quiet is complete.."Frutta Fresca" says a red and blue handwritten advertising in the corner of the open door.

A step inside and the time seems to have stopped in the 50s: the old fruit and vegetable market shows stalls full of fresh season's fruits and vegetables, an old nice lady serving the clients with a genuine smile and taking care of everything. "I give you an other orange free, one of those you've chosen is too ripen..it's always like that when you (costumers, NdR) choose your own fruits directly!"

Right in front of her the grocery lady is cleaning the old bench and ordering up all the cheeses, hams and salami.. An old lady with her asian nurse moves to the next stall, looking for something in particular that i'll never know..

I ask for my peaches, my apricots and the salad, astonished by the colors, the variety and perfumes of the fruit i can see..

Only when i'm back in the street i realize that's the "No Cash Day" and that i've paid cash all the morning: from the newspaper at the newsstand to the groceries.. A smile comes through: i don't care! i'm walking happily with the bag full of fruit and salad in the hand, felling lucky 'cause i've found a little paradise, a treasure hidden from the hectic everyday life, where the fruit is the color it has to be and the quiet is reigning.