Sarzana is today a modern center of craftsmanship, agriculture and tourism. The ancient city walls are the legacy of a history full of events, marked by the alternation of governments of different families that have influenced the culture and architectural style of the city.
The market opened its doors in Piazza San Giorgio, home to markets since the end of the nineteenth century, but fallen into disuse in the 1950s to make room for a petrol station and thus become a mere crossroads for the direct roads in the main cities of the Liguria and Tuscany. The city of Sarzana is in fact located east of the Magra river, where the Cisa motorway meets the Via Aurelia.
Launched in 2010 by the Condotta di Sarzana Lerici Val di Magra, with the contribution of the Cassa di Risparmio di Genova and thanks to an agreement stipulated with the Municipality of Sarzana, the market has since then been a center for disseminating the Slow Food philosophy.
Through the proposal of proximity products, selected and controlled with strict quality criteria, the project generates positive effects on the territory and its inhabitants, offering, on the one hand, good and healthy products at a fair price and on the other the possibility to keep small production companies alive.
Today 25 to 30 producers from the Piana di Sarzana, Val di Magra and Lunigiana participate in the market, bringing their own vegetables and seasonal fruit, native wheat flours and bread (also the Marocca di Casola Slow Food Presidium, a dark and compact Tuscan bread, made with wheat, potatoes and chestnuts), dairy products and cheeses made with raw milk, honey, meat and eggs, wine and oil. There are also often local specialties, for example the Slow Food Presidium artisan testarolo from Pontremoli, cooked in the traditional cast iron text.
The conduct frequently organizes convivial occasions and tastings of market products.