Mercato Orientale, Genoa

Mercato Orientale is a market of Genoa opened in 1899.

Its opening was decided with the municipal resolution of 21 October 1893 which commissioned the municipal engineers Veroggio, Bisagno and Cordoni to give a permanent home to the market for agricultural products arriving from the Bisagno valley , which until then had been held in Piazza De Ferrari. . The market, which owes its name to the position in which it was then located with respect to the city center (to the east), occupies the area of the cloister of the Augustinian convent attached to the Consolation church. Of the original cloister, the market includes the colonnades on the sides placed towards the church and towards Via XX Settembre as well as the portalclosed on the square of access to the market from via Galata, while the other two sides have been completed with the construction of the market.

It was the first building built in Genoa in reinforced concrete with the Hennebique system and occupies an area of 5500 square meters. It includes an underground floor divided into 42 warehouses and a ground floor formed by a perimeter colonnaded portico that extends for about 360 meters.

The works ended in July 1898 and on June 2, 1899 the market was inaugurated by the mayor Francesco Pozzo with a floral exhibition.

In December 2017, a project was presented for the conservative restoration and enhancement of the mezzanine floor of the building, where a food market with bar, workstations for tasting typical products, a cooking school and a space for cultural meetings and events was created. The project won the first prize in the category "New ways of living and producing" in the competition dedicated to urban transformation and the marketing of cities organized by the National Institute of Urban Planning and Urbit. After several postponements, the new structure within the market was inaugurated on 7 May 2019.