Ninth Street's Italian Market began in the 1880s with immigrant pushcarts, and it remains the oldest and largest open-air market in the United States. The Italian Market on Ninth Street in South Philadelphia began in the 1880s when Italian immigrants — arriving in enormous numbers from Sicily and southern Italy, fleeing poverty and the collapse of the southern Italian economy — settled in the blocks around Christian Street and began selling produce, meat, and groceries from pushcarts and stalls. At its peak in the early twentieth century, the market stretched for five blocks and served a dense Italian American neighborhood of tens of thousands.
The families who ran the market — the Anastasi, the Di Bruno brothers, Fiorella's, Sarcone's bakery — became institutions. South Philadelphia was the neighborhood of Frankie Avalon, Eddie Fisher, Mario Lanza, and later the Rocky films, which were shot in these streets. The market is smaller now than it was in its peak decades, and the surrounding neighborhood has shifted from Italian to Vietnamese and Mexican, with new vendors bringing new foods.
But the cheese at Di Bruno Bros., the bread from Sarcone's, and the produce stalls are still there. Walk the length of the market and look at the awnings and the fire barrels that warm the vendors on cold mornings.