The Italian Market is an area of Philadelphia featuring many grocery shops, cafes, restaurants, bakeries, cheese shops, butcher shops, etc. with an Italian influence. It is generally considered to extend along 9th Street from Fitzwater Street at the north to Wharton Street at the south.

History

The Italian Market, frequently referred to simply as 9th Street, has its origins as a marketplace in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. The area, outside the original boundaries of William Penn's planned city, was an area for immigrants to settle in. Italian immigrants began to move into the area around 1884, when Antonio Palumbo began receiving "hundreds of Italian immigrants into his boardinghouse." Shops along 9th Street opened up shortly afterwards to cater to the new Italian community and have remained in the area to this day, with many of the present vendors tracing the founding of their business back to the first decade of the 20th century. The area continues to attract new immigrants as a number of Korean, Chinese and Mexican-run businesses have joined the traditional Italian shops in the market. The market also plays host to an annual Italian Market Festival with music, activities and, of course, food.

The Look

The Italian Market is considered to be an "outdoor" market. The market consists of shops which are usually on the ground floor of the traditional Philadelphia rowhouses that line the street. Owners would have originally lived on the one or two floors above their shop. There are also vendors (primarily of fruit and vegetables) that set up stands along the outside edge of the sidewalk. The vendor will stand in the street itself (where cars know not to park) and the buyer will stand on the sidewalk to inspect the produce. The market is known for its vibrant, ethnic atmosphere. Vendors will put on a show to grab the attention of customers and in the winter used boxes and crates will be put into metal barrels and set alight to provide fires where the vendors can keep warm.

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