To market, to market

13th July 2025

Last Sunday’s onset of rain signalled the start of the break of the hot weather, though it took a couple of days to work the transition. Monday was pretty mixed and bad timing on my part meant we got soaked on our morning walk, surprising Stephen somewhat as he had missed the downpour while he was in the shower. The rest of the day wasn’t so bad, but Tuesday saw an awful lot of rain with two or three very heavy bursts that gave the road a bit of a shock. The good news is that it was back to sunshine on Wednesday and much fresher temperatures (13° when we got up, bliss!), and though it gradually warmed up over the following days it managed to stay this side of 30°.

As for the week itself, we went for coffee at Marco and Maddalena’s after dinner on Monday to take her birthday present. We were two days late, but that was not our fault as she and Marco had been to Rimini for the weekend and that was a bit far just to pop round. She was very happy with our offerings and, as is the norm on such occasions, Marco had a bottle of spumante chilling for a birthday toast.

He presented it to Maddalena to open, looking very pleased with himself. That was a red light if ever there was one, wine still being in the Italian male’s domain, at least in MSP. She twisted the cork and as it came out so did small crystals of ice that flew around the table – because Marco had had the bottle chilling in the freezer. This also explained why it was not just very cold to drink but how chunks of frozen wine came to be in the glasses when it was poured.

He’d had it “chilling” for an hour, he said, but I must warn you not to try this at home, children. Our doubts were confirmed when I googled it on the way home; while one site said you were ok for up to fifteen minutes, all the others said it was very dangerous as the bottle was likely to explode, leaving shards of glass in your freezer.  At least on this occasion no innocent bystanders were harmed – and nor were the guilty.

Tuesday Stephen was absent all day on a jaunt to Milan with bff Manuel, setting off at 6.30 with a cloth fair the destination. The original plan was for them to stop over but even allowing for arriving behind schedule (delay on the autostrada thanks to a spilled load of sand turning the road into the Sahara) they saw enough of the fair to decide to come straight back. It was, though, 1.30 before Stephen made it home.

Thursday was our first visit of the summer to the market in Fermo. I know we missed the inaugural evening the previous week, but, in my defence, I did have a lesson. That, though, has been swapped to Wednesday for the rest of the month before pausing for the whole of August, leaving us free to hit the mercatino whenever we like (as long as it’s between 5 pm and midnight on a Thursday, of course).

Whilst much was the same, there were a couple of things different from past years. The first, which we had been prepared for by Maddalena on Monday, was that Art Asylum was closed. It’s not like there’s shortage of places to eat in Piazza del Popolo but there is a question of which one, meaning we wandered around like lost souls for a while before deciding on Loggia al 42. This, as the name suggests, is on the loggia, next to Enoteca (if you remember that favoured eating spot from days past) and proclaims itself (from 8 pm) a fish restaurant. Before that, though, they do aperitivo, offering a tagliere of either meat or fish. We plumped for the meat one and an Aperol spritz, (OK, and yes, a glass of rose and some olive all’ascolana as a chaser) and the good news is that it was all most acceptable. We will definitely go back next time we are at the market – maybe upgrading to dinner.

The other changes, hopefully because it was early in the month and will be rectified later, were that my favoured honey man from Rapagnano wasn’t there and neither was the lady with the friendship bracelets. On the positive side the nice young lady who does the crocheted figures (as in our bespoke dog busts from last year) was happy to see us when we passed. We told her we’d be back in a couple of weeks with pictures of our new dog for her to do one of Peggy, but in the meantime Stephen bought a Stitch keyring to send to his sister. 

All this meant we were round the market in less time than usual and too early for caffè at Foschi which reopens at 9 after they’ve had dinner, but we did have the excitement of going on the new road on the way home. This has been in construction for a couple of years as a bypass to take the traffic away from the local roads when the new hospital opens near Girasole. We hadn’t realised it was in operation till we entered the roundabout on the way to Fermo, where it starts. Where it finished was anyone’s guess, there being no road signs giving any information about it, but taking courage in both hands we boldly went where no man (or relatively few) has gone before. What can I say? We entered the road, followed it until the end, passing maybe three cars coming in the opposite direction, and exited into a satellite conurbation, saving various junctions and at least three minutes driving time in the process.

The early morning temperature having slowly worked itself up to 17° when we got up yesterday indicated that proper summer weather was again the order of the day – so why not enjoy an aperitivo at Chupito Il Chiosco, the bar in the park, we thought? If you recall, this opened for the summer months for the first time last year, but despite what the opening hours said after one successful visit the other three times we tried it was decidedly closed. Fingers crossed, and with the assurance of bff Manuel’s son who puts in the odd stint there, we bundled the dogs into the car and set out for some quality family time.

Bundled looked like it was going to be the operative word as Peggy started cowering and backing away when we neared the Jeep. I managed to hustle her over to the open door but she was having none of it – till Stephen fastened Harry in at the other side. Well, as far as Peggy is concerned, if it’s ok with Harry then it’s ok with her and when she saw him sitting like lord of all he surveys she leapt up and sat acquiescently while I strapped her in.

That wasn’t the only success, as Chupito was indeed open for business. A g&t each, some crisps and some peanuts while Peggy and Harry, after a good sniff around the bushes and trees on the way from the car park to the bar, settled down by the table pretending to be well-behaved and obedient were a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday teatime - and when it came time to return home, Peggy hopped into the back of the car like it was the most natural thing in the world.

It was just as well we went yesterday, not because it’s closed on a Sunday but because today has decided to turn dull, and a spot of rain meant we had to take our evening merenda inside for the second time in recent days. According to the weather forecast next week we are heading back to temperatures in the low 30’s with lots of sunshine, so it looks like today’s blip is just to signal another change in the weather – and whether that’s a good thing or whether it’s a bad thing, time and the weather will tell.