Gotta Eat!

A visual gallery of grocery shopping in Lucca, Italy.

5/15/20253 min read

Anyone on a budget, whether traveling or not, knows you can’t eat in restaurants unless your budget limit is huge. The less money you have to work with, the more you eat at home; and even what you eat will vary depending on your budget. Thankfully, we enjoy cooking and eating at home helps us control ingredients and spending. Though we will do a budget break-down in our locations, here are some examples of shopping in Italy.

Costco: Costco does not operate in Italy

The Farmer’s Market: Depending upon the city, farmer’s markets may be open 1-2 days per week in the spring to Fall months. We were proud of ourselves after completing several transactions with non-English speakers in the small farmer’s market.

1. Small independent grocers: These are the backbone of the community. Sometimes operated for generations, these specialty shops will get you the finest quality and most locally sourced foods in the area.

2. Larger chain stores: Esselunga, Conad, and Lidl are the two chain stores we used while in Lucca when we needed more than a few items. As you can see, they are not much different from the chain stores in America. You may not have as many brands of the same product, you will see some but not all of your favorite imported brands, In America you will see an entire isle of salad dressings with 12 kinds of Ranch dressing, but in Italy you see four salad dressings and an entire isle of olive oil.