The first two experiences in the city started six years ago, today they count in Pavone, Azeglio, Salerano, Colleretto Giacosa
IVREA. In the beginning there were piazza Freguglia with the Canavese Excellence Association and the Zac! with Ecoredia to lead the way in the world of producers’ markets for the Ivrea area. Six years have passed. Today you shop at zero kilometers in Salerano, Colleretto Giacosa, Azeglio, Pavone. Burolo with Kortomercato, an initiative put on stand by a year ago for Covid, could instead be resumed next spring in the Carrefour square. Zero-kilometer markets, including organic ones, with local farms. About fifty realities involved. The basket of products is getting wider and wider. It ranges from cheeses to cured meats, fruit and vegetables, honeys, jams. And then flours, bread, yeasts, products based on ancient hemp and corn, meats, trout, wine, beer, artisanal pastries. Markets held every Saturday, but not only, in response to an increasingly less niche local way of eating. One number above all: only the two solidarity buying groups of Borgofranco and Ivrea headed by Ecoredia associate 250 families.
where and when, the map
In Ivrea there are two producers’ markets that have become a fixed appointment over the years. In piazza Freguglia it is organized by the Association of Canavese excellences on the first and third Saturday of the month (even the fifth if foreseen by the calendar), morning and afternoon, and every Saturday in December. At the Zac !, instead, Ecoredia sets up the Altromercato every second and fourth Saturday of the month (from 9 to 14.30). Always Ecoredia, and always at the Zac !, then proposes two other midweek afternoon (17-19), on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the name of CoseBuone. Also on the initiative of Zac! -Ecoredia, the Granelli di Sale market on the first Saturday of the month in Piazza Unità di Italia, in Salerano. And the same goes for Colleretto Giacosa, on the third Saturday of the month, from 9 to 13, at the Guido Rossa park. The Terra Alta association, basically a group of producers belonging to Ecoredia, instead follows Pavone, every first Saturday of the month in Piazza Falcone, from 9 to 13, the latest arrival. Finally Azeglio, with the market in the field, literally organized by the agricultural cooperative Il granello di senape, on Mondays. From September they will all return to full activity after a year which in fact, if on the one hand it has brought consumers even closer to healthy local food, on the other hand it has inevitably ended up changing the habits between smart working and home deliveries carried out directly. from farms.
no longer a niche phenomenon
Small local producers, it was said, therefore at zero kilometer. Which, as in the case of Ecoredia, must be rigorously certified organic, i.e. suited to natural production methods, without the use of chemical synthesis substances (fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides). It is not uncommon for these markets to be placed side by side with environmental workshops for children or fair trade home made crafts. Behind, in short, there is a whole philosophy that is inspired by a production model contrary to the excessive exploitation of natural resources (soil, water, air), and instead in favor of a long-term sustainable model. The costs are not those of large-scale distribution, of course, but “the people, never like in the last two years – explained Paola De Paveri of the mustard grain, present on Saturday morning at the Zac! – he wants to eat genuine and healthy ». “Consumers have understood that organic means to feel the true flavor of the products – added the colleague of Cascina Bedria in Chiaverano while delivering him the fresh eggs of the day from his fifty hens -. The small imperfections are the signal of the naturalness of the production methods. People look for this ». Consumers know who the producers are, they know them. This is no small detail. “Customers ask questions, get informed, ask, are interested and curious about what they put on the table – added Alice Nicoletta of the La Ciuenda di Trovinasse farmhouse, in Settimo Vittone, president of the Association of Canavese excellences for two years – . In piazza Freguglia we leave again on the first Saturday of September. I remember that we have recently also had meats and trout, and that we will have our fill of products in October, when it will begin to be less hot ». Ecoredia, on the other hand, is thinking about how to enhance the tour of the midweek markets. «We have been asked by some categories of workers to bring them forward by an hour, at 4 pm, and we will do it – said Patrizia Dal Santo of Ecoredia -. The other idea being studied is proximity home delivery in the neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of the Zac !, such as strada Torino. We see”.