The Mercato Orientale (Eastern Market) is a market in Genoa that opened in 1899. Located in the very central via XX Settembre, it is housed in the ancient cloister, never finished, of the convent annexed to the church of the Consolazione, built between 1684 and 1706.
Its opening was decided with the municipal resolution of 21 October 1893 which commissioned the municipal engineers Veroggio, Bisagno and Cordoni to give a permanent location to the market of agricultural products that arrived from the Bisagno valley, which until then had been held in Piazza De Ferrari. The market, which owes its name to the position it was then in with respect to the city center (to the east), occupies the area of the cloister of the Augustinian convent annexed to the church of the Consolation. Of the original cloister, the market includes the colonnades on the sides facing the church and towards via XX Settembre as well as the closed portal on the small square giving access to the market from via Galata, while the other two sides were completed with the construction of the market.
It was the first building built in Genoa in reinforced concrete with the Hennebique system and occupies an area of 5500 square meters. It includes an underground floor divided into 42 warehouses and a ground floor formed by a colonnaded perimeter portico which extends for approximately 360 metres. The market has five entrances, two of which from via XX Settembre, including the main entrance with five arches, two from via Galata and one from via Colombo. Initially open-air, the market was later covered by skylights to increase the available internal space. The interior decorations are in white marble, while the original stone floor is now partially covered by concrete. The wing of the building facing via XX Settembre housed the financial offices for years, from 1931 transferred to the new headquarters in via Fiume.
The works ended in July 1898 and on 2 June 1899 the market was inaugurated by the mayor Francesco Pozzo with a floral exhibition.
In December 2017, a project was presented for the conservative restoration and enhancement of the mezzanine floor of the building, where a food market was built with a bar, stations for tasting typical products, a cooking school and a space for cultural meetings and events. The project won first prize in the “New ways of living and producing” category in the competition dedicated to urban transformation and city marketing organized by the National Institute of Urban Planning and Urbit. After several postponements, the new facility within the market opened on 7 May 2019.
