It was all about picking and choosing when we went to Eataly Trieste, the largest Italian marketplace in the world. What kind of pasta do we want, how about cheese, skip the ham but not pizza, I need coffee though I could use wine as well, maybe beer… From now on a trip to Trieste will have to include a stop at Eataly and at least an hour to make some hard choices, since (too bad) we can’t take it all home. We tried. 
The beginning of a great story
The first Eataly opened in Torino 10 years ago. Today there are around 30 stores around the world and in January 2017 Trieste got one as well. Yaay for us as it is the closest one to Ljubljana.
The concept of the store is very simple – they offer a variety of restaurants, food and beverages counters, a delicious bakery and quality Italian products. The products are all from regional farmers, bakers and pasta makers aka delicious.
It’s basically Italy at its best at your fingertips.
This was our first visit to one of the their stores but I can guarantee it won’t be the last. It was such a lively and interesting experience: more than shopping and definitely more than plain eating. A true feast.
TIPS ON PLANNING YOUR VISIT to Eataly trieste
Eataly Trieste is located right in the quay of Trieste, less than 5 minutes walk from the main square – Piazza Unita d’Italia. It is housed in a former wine warehouse and it covers around 3.000 square meters on three very tempting levels.
You can park close by at the quay – which is good so you don’t need to carry your bags – trust me, there will be bags – around too far. But it’s an endeavor to find an empty parking spot, especially on Sundays when the parking there is free. We spent around 15 to 20 minutes searching for one. After that we almost didn’t want to ever leave it.
Plan to spend at least an hour here, taking in the atmosphere.
When it comes to shopping – perhaps go with some kind of a plan – what do you actually need and what can you resist?
The prices are steep – though you are getting a very high quality product using the best of local ingredients. So, expensive but worth is. We succumbed to pasta, Pecorino Romano cheese, pesto Genovese, sun dried tomatoes, hazelnut cream and coffee.
Of course upon our arrival we suddenly got very hungry and couldn’t make another step without eating something. (Kind of like how our kids get – overly dramatic and insatiable). We stopped at the bakery, debated for five minutes till we were able to come to an agreement among ourselves. And then the next stop was coffee, sweets and planning our next visit.
I have a feeling that we will now start visiting Trieste more often… how could we possibly resist it.
