Renzo's Fruit and Vegetable Shop

The owner of this shop is Renzo Pera. Pera is "pear" in Italian. This is Renzo's wife, Maria, and her sister, Ori. I suspect Renzo was down the street a bit having an espresso with his mates.

My husband discovered this shop when he did shopping by bicycle. He extolled its virtues endlessly when, in fact, I noticed that some of the potatoes were often soft, as were the onions to say nothing of the slightly wrinkled melanzane (aubergine or eggplant, woot! I'm tri-lingual in veggie talk). When I asked for a handful of spinach, he came home with enough to fill a pillowcase. Hello?

One day I went into the shop with him. The instant I entered arms flew up into the air, great, cheerful noises were made, and Maria said, speaking directly to my husband,

"You never told us you had such a young and beautiful wife!"

Instantly, I realized this was a very good shop, indeed.

There followed a six-month course on vegetable buying for my husband. It is now safe to let him go in there for his weekly shot of street gossip with a touch of flattery and, truth be told, it is the best fruit and veggie shop in town. Renzo grows some of his own fruit and vegetables and he buys other produce from independent growers. Nothing in the shop is controlled by you-know-who in the south.


Maria and Ori were thrilled to have their pictures taken and to know they would be on the internet. They will be even more thrilled to have greetings from South Africa, Scotland and elsewhere.