Among the memories of the past, thinking of the ancient shops in the center of Genoa, one cannot fail to remember the old funds – which no longer exist – and which sold coal, potatoes and sorghum brooms.

Ivaldo Castellani talks about it in “Genoa in all senses” (Erga, 2021): “As much as I have always struggled – writes the author – I have never been able to find a common denominator that linked these three products, but by now it no longer matters, while the speeches of the owners did, true historical memories told by a straw chair placed next to a large steelyard for coal and a smaller one, by hand, for potatoes ».

These backgrounds, with a damp smell and irregular and almost never white walls, were populated by a series of unforgettable characters: the author quotes Pippo dirise della Misericordia, who used newspapers to “grumble” and read obituaries, but Especially to wrap Montoggio potatoes to sell while talking about memories and historical memories of the city. From the construction of the historic houses to the band that played at Acquasola in the early 1900s, Pippo was a real treasure trove of information and anecdotes about Genoa, as well as many other merchants in the alleyways.