'A gayer scene is not imaginable. The sunlight filters between a forest of enormous white umbrellas on to the brilliant fruits and flowers piled up in their shade; and glitters on the silver fish still lying in the round tubs in which they were brought to the market... The women are as gay as their own wares, with their full swinging skirts bunched up on their hips, and their velvet stays, and brilliant flowered kerchiefs. There are all sorts and conditions of attire - here you see an old woman with a face as wrinkled as a walnut, wearing blue stays over a pink bodice, and a bright scarlet cloth on her head; there a girl, as beautiful as a Madonna, with a tovaglietta [headcloth] on her glossy hair, and red stays over a St. Anna green bodice.'
from The Colour of Rome - Olave Potter
