"The fruiterers' shops have splendid stalls. The heaps of blooming peaches, the quantities of golden, amber-colored transparent grapes colored with the richest tints, shining like gems, and the grains of which, strung in the form of necklaces and bracelets, would admirably adorn the neck and arms of some antique Maenad, and beautifully fresh and admirably grouped. The tomatoes mingle their brilliant scarlet with the golden tints and the watermelon shows its rosy pulp through the cleft in its green skin. All these lovely fruits, brightly lighted by gas jets, show well against the vine leaves upon which they are laid. It is impossible to regale one's eyes more agreeably and often, without being hungry, I purchased peaches and grapes through sheer loe of color. I recall also certain fishmongers' stalls covered with little fishes so white, so silvery, so pearly, that I felt like swallowing them raw, after the manner of the ichthyophagists of the Southern seas, for fear of spoiling their tints."
-- Theophile Gautier (1811-1872)
Gautier was writing about the Frezzeria, a street now given over to
restaurants and shops catering to tourists; only a couple of food shops remain
and no fruit or fish mongers. Still, much of the atmosphere he evokes can be
found in the Rialto Markets today.
