As long ago as the Middle Ages, the aea of piazza Palazzo di Città, where Turin Town Hall is found, was the heart of flourishing commercial trade, and close to the square many taverns sprang up where, under the municipal laws of the days, the peasants and tradesmen bringing produce in from the contryside to sell at market, were obliged to spend at least one night. Today the square, on the first Sunday of every month, is still devoted to the Mercatino delle Erbe (market of Herbs and Spices), the ancient name of the square, which offers the best of the local produce: wines and cheeses - rigorously "DOC" - cakes and confectionery.

The most ample square in the city, near Porte Palatine (the old Roman gates), is Piazza della Repubblica. This is the home of Europe's biggest open-air-market- the Porta Palazzo market - where where it is possible to buy just abpove about everything: from clothes and fabrics to household goods and hi-fis. However, it is the quality and the prices of the market's huge array of food products thatattract shoppers from all over the city. Here, vast crowds wander around the throng of market stalls, piled high with fruit and vegetables, cheeses, salami anc cold pork meats, and through the area's celebrated covered fish market, in a picturesque and lively climate, with its scenes of intensive bargaining made in many of the dialects spoken in the city.

Behind Porta Palazzo, there is the Balôn, a market that has been operating since the mid-19th century. This is the area of Turin's second-hand and junk dealers, that is charcaterised by a numerous quantity of tiny shops selling articles of every kind, and often valuable antique furniture. Every Saturday, when market stalls are also set out, a colourful crowd of buyers and curiose alike, gather in the streets and alleys.

The Gran Balôn, that takes place on the second Sunday of every month, has reached the level of the celebrated Marché aux puces (Flea Market) in Paris: a market of curiosity, collector's items, lace, toys and old publications, together with antique objet d'art and furniture of rare quality that is attracting more and ore people from all over Italy.