HAT MARKET

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 June 1922, Page 8

HAT MARKET

SCENES IN FLORENCE

A unique and attractive sight is the upon air Lac market at Florence. The market is held in and around the Mercato Nuovo, the New Market, situated in a little square out of one of the busiest streets of that busy town. In front of the square is a large I felike bronze board, an old fountain, introduced by Hans Andersen to fame, and a little to the south is Ponte Vecchio, that old bridge across the Anro upon which stand on either side time-tried, green-shuttered houses. On Thursdays Hower stalls are introduced among the straw-work when the visitor’s attention is diverted in

■ spring-time by Florentine roses of gorgeous hues, by Madonna lilies, and • boughs of fruit blossom, by tea roses . R,nd stocks, violets and narcissi and > nots of lemon trees with the fruit glittering under an Italian sky. So another week-day must be chosen when tho local industry of straw hats s the centre of attention. Then you •vill see every variety of headgear collected cheeky by jowl ; garden hats and panamas, hats with straw-fringed edges, hats with straw-lace brims, others with inset straw medallions of contrasting colours ; boys’ hats, men’s hats, dolls’ hats, bundles of straw tiecj’ up like horses’ tails and dyed every imaginable colour, lengths of I’.nsnlit straw set out like cabbages, rolls of plaited straw in purples, browns, blues and greens, or blends of these, brims without crowns, and crowns without brims, and here and there a tiny mirror set intriguingly among the woves of straw. Then and there you take off your own headgear, lured into the first stage by “trying on.” From somewhere the bareheaded saleswoman instantly produces a' hand-mirror and with a sweep of the hand uncovers a further mirror in the centre of the stall, and then expresses admiration of

your appearance in whatever shape you choose to put on. Tho price of each is chanted by the seller, first in lire, and then, if you seem unresponsive the word “franc” is substituted. Then it is your turn. You suggest about half the price. A pained expression changes the colour of the vendor’s eyes. ' And so the game proceeds.