The smoke of roasted sardines, the yeasty fragrance of fresh bread, the sizzle of frying oil pots, and the multicolored abundance of fruits and vegetables.

I stop for a salty breakfast of pane and panelle, rigorously seasoned with a fresh squeeze of lemon, and observe the morning market frenzy–a daily unscripted play here in the streets of Palermo’s Ballarò market. In front of me, a foreign couple inadvertently become, for just one minute, the protagonists.