Our tradition
We would like to give some historical details about the Mercato Orientale in order to underline its tradional feature. The Mercato Orientale was born in 1899 and is located in the centre of Genoa. Its history is linked to the Church of “Nostra Signora della Consolazione”, that was built in 1684, and to the attached friary, whose construction started in 1699.
The friary would have been a great project but it has never been completed. So the structure was used to house not only the friars but also little workshops. In this way a space that was built for a sacred use, was going to become a space for profane activities. Two centuries later the municipality decided that the cloister had to be completed and become the permanent center of a market. The end of the 19th century was a period of great expansion for the city. Old buildings were torn down in order to create new areas and build the main street of the city, Via XX Settembre.
Very soon the road traffic became really heavy. When the first traffic jam appeared, the market located in Piazza de Ferrari became an obstacle.
The city realized that the market needed a new position. On October 21, 1893, after deliberation the municipality charged the engineer Veraggio with creating a new market. He used the old cloister of the “Nostra Signora della Consolazione”friary located near the eastern gate of the city. Due to this position the market was called “Mercato Orientale”, i.e. the Eastern Market. On July, 1898, the construction work was completed and a year later the market was opened on the first Sunday of May with a great flower show.
The particular position inside a cloister, the size, the richness and the concentration of its dealing goods, the “flower”windows on Via XX Settembre and the strategic position make the Mercato Orientale a very special market, the most important and popular of the city, appreciated not only by the genoeses but also by the italian and foreign tourists.
Since the opening this market had prosperous periods, even through the ups and downs of life. But nowadays the Mercato Orientale worries about the future, because the architectural charm, the good position, the experience and the ability of the shopkeepers are not enough to remain competitive. That’s why the workers, together with the Municipality of Genoa, launched some studies about the commercial renewal and the structural improvement of the market in order to allow clients, tourists and shopkeepers to enjoy and use, as best as possible, all the historical characteristics of the Mercato Orientale.
