Tips for grocery shopping in Sorrento, Italy

Sorrento is a small city in the Campania region overlooking the Bay of Naples. Sorrento is a popular tourist destination with scents of the sea, lemons, olives, and delicious food. 

Good food is undoubtedly one of the main things famous in Italy, and the ingredients you find eating out, are easy to find in grocery stores around the country. 

When you are on vacation, you are not even thinking of cooking. Still, after dining out for days with pizza and restaurant food, you may urge to prepare something for yourself. More, visiting an Italian grocery store can be a fun experience. It will enrich your Italian vacation experience by viewing the local culture through the lens of different food shopping venues even though you are not stocking a fridge in your housing.

Here is what you need to know about grocery shopping in Sorrento:

Supermarkets- Sorrento has eight leading supermarkets, Pollio, Conad, Cassal, Netto, Despair, Craig, Carrefour, and Dodeca. The supermarkets are not very big, but they are great places to find all the basics: good meat, veggies, fruits, and wine at very reasonable prices. My favorite is Pollio; I can find absolutely everything, from the essentials to some international food products.

Veggies counters at Pollio Supermarket Sorrento

Wine section in Pollio Supermarket Sorrento

Specialty shops- In Sorrento, plenty of locals still do their shopping at the specialty shops. They buy their bread from the bakery -Panetteria. The meat from the butcher- Macelleria, the veggies and fruits from the greengrocer – Fruttivendolo, and fish and seafood from the fish shop- Pescheria. The vendors in these stores are very friendly, will always suggest excellent fresh products, and may give you directions on preparing local food dishes.

Small tips: at the bakery store or Panetteria, aside from the many types of bread, you can find some other freshly baked products to satisfy your food cravings, such as small pizzas and local fried food specials, dry biscuits, oven-baked lasagna and pasta, and other variety of Italian street food.

Visiting specialty shop in Sorrento is a fun experience, and I will go more into the details in my next post 😊

Bakery 

GEROSA Pescheria  Sorrento

 Fruttivendolo

Small Grocery store- Browsing around Sorrento, you will see plenty of small stores called “Alimentari” or “Salumeria.” Prices may vary depending on their location. They carry dairy, frozen and canned food, personal hygiene items, fresh food and veggies, dry food, and bread. While shopping, you can ask the vendor to prepare an on-the-spot, delicious Panini with prosciutto, mozzarella, and focaccia accompanied by cold beer, fresh sodas, or water. 

Salumeria on Corso Italia In Sorrento 

Delis- called Gastronomia, is where you’ll find excellent cuts of meat, high-end condiments, the best cheese, olives, wines, and good-brand pasta. In addition, most Gastronomia prepares hot dishes to carry out like grilled chicken, veggies and meat, parmigiana di melanzane, marinated food, and many others.  

Gastronomia Via degli Aranci

Gastronomia in Sorrento

Pasticceria- is an Italian Pastry Shop; visiting a pasticceria will surely delight your senses. As with the food, every region in Italy has its pastry specialties with extensive sensational flavors. You may not have a sweet tooth, but browsing around Sorrento will lure you into entering a pasticceria. Every pasticceria hare has classics such as sfogliatella, cannoli, babà al rum, Cassata, crostata, tiramisu, zeppole and planty variety of small pastries. Usually, in Sorrento, the tradition is that every Sunday, family lunch will end up with a tray of small pasticcini. That’s why the pasticceria in the city are open on Sunday morning, with the counters full of threats.

Pasticceria in Sorrento

Gelateria- no words describe the test of the Italian Gelato famous worldwide. The Italian Gelato isn’t just ice cream; the Gelato is much more than that. In Sorrento, many places sell Gelato; on hot summer days, a scoop of Gelato is a delight for your senses and soul. My favorite Gelateria here in Sorrento is Gelateria David.

Mercati- Sorrento and its surroundings have large markets on certain days of the week, offering farm produce, household goods, clothes, and shoes at exciting prices. The Sorrento market is every Tuesday from early morning until 1 pm and takes place in the bus parking lot on Via San Renato.

Here are some useful phrases to know when buying groceries in Italy.

Bottiglia di acqua – Bottle of water 

Caffè – Coffee 

Panino – Sandwich 

Prosciutto cotto – Prosciutto Baked or backed Ham

Prosciutto crudo – Prosciutto raw or Raw Ham

Latte – Milk

Salame – Salami

Formaggio- Cheese

Frutta – Fruits

Verdura- Veggies 

Carne – Meat

Pollo –Chicken 

Pane – Bread 

Olive – Olives

Uova –Eggs

Zucchero – Sugar

Sale – Salt

E Buono? – Is this good

Grazie – Thanks 

Buongiorno – Good Morning 

Buona giornata – Have a nice day

Buonasera – Good evening

Arrivederci – Good bye

At last, always check the opening hours for the stores in Italy; during the hot summer days, most stores remain closed for an afternoon break from 1.30 pm to 5.00 pm, except the chain’s supermarkets.

Enjoy your stay in Sorrento. 

And If you find this post helpful, please share. 😊

XOXO