Some time ago I read a post wrote by @ermest about the Antiques Street Market (here the LINK) and I decided to write a short post about the traditional market held every 3rd Sunday of the month in the town where I’m based, Treviglio (province of Bergamo, near Milan).
It’s really interesting because the market is placed in the historical centre of the town and not as often is happening in a square.
The location is perfect because Treviglio is a typical town of Plain of the Po’. Here there were plenty of villages based on the peasant life (lot of cultivations). Some of these villages growth and growth around their centre in which there were a concentration of richer farmers. Reason why the town centre is often really beautiful from the architectural point of view.
Treviglio is a pretty big town with more than 30.000 inhabitants and during the 3rd Sunday of every months many sellers hold their places around the centre and make business.
In this market you can find everything you are looking for but surely also something that you don’t need but you don’t imagine being able to find for sale!
There are sellers of vintage objects, vintage toys, stamps, vinyl records, vintage jewelry and watches, furniture …
Even if you are not passionate, it is impossible not to find a certain charm in seeing such varied things before your eyes!
I am fortunate to live right in the historic center and on the third Sunday of the month I get up early to follow the arrival of the merchants, see how they set up their stalls, “steal” their conversations on the markets where they have been in others days of the month …
Then come the people who begin to fill the narrow streets by strolling, glancing at the stalls. Mostly they are people intrigued by different objects but if you look carefully to find collectors and if you are lucky you can watch the conversation between a seller and a collector and you will learn a lot of things about an object of which in most cases you only knew that it exists .
one of the strangest things that I happened to see for sale is the propeller of a small plane made of wood that came from a real aircraft and I wondered who could ever want such an object. To my amazement, staying close to that stall, I saw many people go to ask for information and price of that propeller and in all cases they were people looking for furniture and before the end of the morning the propeller was sold to a buyer who would turn it into a chandelier!
It is also very nice to see children often accompanied by grandparents who explain how in the past some objects were part of everyday life or kids who browse the comics of the 70s seeing images and subjects that modernity has forgotten.
Every time people arrive from all neighboring cities because Treviglio is well connected by train to Milan (the train station is one of the stops on the Milan-Venice route) but also to Bergamo and Brescia as well as to Cremona which is about 1 hour by car.
In my opinion these markets are the vital soul of the cities and when I travel I always try to understand if these antiques markets exist in the city where I live because it is a unique opportunity to discover the real inhabitants of the city and the objects with which they grew up.
Here in the Treviglio antiques market there is not only vintage but also other types of stalls such as Lego collectors, handmade jewelry and clothes and many books. It is fantastic because you will find many books at a very low price and you will always give them new life by being able to resell or exchange them at the same banquet when you have finished them.
If you want to visit these markets do it calmly, look for the particular objects that are hidden on the stalls and do not be afraid to ask for information because the sellers are in turn collectors and will be able to give you a piece of history. If you are really looking for a particular object I will give you some advice: go to the market early because that is the moment when real business is done, you will find only people interested in buying and you will see the sellers exchange items. After the first two hours the real deals of the day ended!
If you do not find what you are looking for, ask the sellers why they will certainly be able to recover it thanks to their network of knowledge.
Last tip if you want to buy something: don’t be afraid to negotiate the price, the seller expects it and will be almost disappointed if you accept the first price without discussing it!
If you are passionate I really recommend the Treviglio antiques market not only for the market itself but also for walking in a historic center full of life!
This is a collaborative post by #TeamItaly included in the #TeamChallenge proposed by @ermest. The post is part of the series about Italy: Italian culture between ancient and modern
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