Beneath the great glass roof of the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, a Mediterranean fragrance drifts among the stalls. A tour of a gourmet Italy that has found its place at the heart of the "belly of Lyon".
Since 1859, this Lyon covered market has brought together the artisans who built the region's culinary reputation. Renamed in 2006 in tribute to the world's greatest chef, ranked the third best market on the planet by Food & Wine magazine, the Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse today welcome some sixty traders. And among them, several houses proudly fly the colours of a gourmet Italy.
For the dolce vita has made itself at home beneath the great glass roof. With Lello, chef Antonello Cabras has set up his grocery, his counter and his table, where at lunchtime you can savour fresh pasta shaped on the spot, antipasti and long, slow-simmered Italian dishes. The ingredients are chosen with care, often from producers the chef knows personally, in keeping with a know-how passed down through the generations.
The house of Ciao Ciao extends this journey with its fine grocery, prepared dishes, wines and condiments from across the Peninsula. Here you find the spirit of the trattoria: generosity, freshness and good cheer. A standing invitation to put together a meal as if strolling through an Italian village square.
Wandering from stall to stall here means prolonging the art of living so dear to Paul Bocuse. Between a creamy burrata, a board of transalpine charcuterie and a bag of still-warm pasta, the gourmet Italy of the Halles has that rare talent: turning a simple morning errand into the promise of a feast. Buon appetito.