In Sicily, you often hear the market before you see it, its voices echoing through the narrow streets, rising and falling in a rhythm that sounds like a song. That’s why, in the country’s largest island, the calls vendors use to draw people closer have a special name, abbanniate.
Amix of invitation, persuasion, and showmanship, abbanniate turns shopping into a full theatrical experience; in Palermo’s historic markets – Ballarò, Capo, Vucciria – the sound is as familiar as the smell of oranges or the flash of silver fish on ice; it’s a full part of the daily choreography, loud but never random, shaped by habit and, why not, a flair for poetry.
