Mirano was a welcome change after Kyiv for food. I quickly found my way to the local PAM, which ended up becoming our go-to-market while in Mirano. We did find a few other smaller markets in-town, but we didn’t really shop at them. I think because we found everything at the PAM and it was super close, PAM became the go-to.

The PAM was less than a mile from our house, and after renting our bikes, we quickly adjusted to our new shopping routine. As always, Nolan and I were are the primary shoppers on the trip, and we made several trips together.  Because we were always on a bike, our shopping hauls were limited to the 2 reusable shopping bags we picked up in Amsterdam.

The PAM literally had everything we needed. It was very similar to any grocery store back in Indiana. It was always well stocked, very clean, and friendly staff (though very few spoke any English).

Here’s my research data on PAM:

• 8 apple varieties.  Nolan insisted we get the 4-pack of Disney apples, which were gala apples packaged with the Cars or Frozen charters on them. I guess this is an attempt to get kids to each more fruits?
• As for bread, I’m not sure how to even describe the excessive amounts of bread. There was pre-packaged sandwich bread, but it was hard to find.  The bakery and bread aisle was filled with pastries, baguettes, rolls, etc … and they were all fantastic!
• 27 milk varieties. Milk was sold both warm and cold. I always purchased milk from the refrigerated section. I still struggle with not refrigerating dairy items.
• 15 aisles.

Other comments about food and the PAM:

• The only item we never found in Italy was black beans. We have come accustom to Taco Tuesdays, which always has black beans!  I literally searched for about 20-mins, I asked the store manager, but we never found black beans.
• In general, the fruits and veggies were always super fresh and lasted well in the frig. I actually thought the berries held up a little better in Mirano than in previous cities. As in former cities, you also do bag and tag your own fruits and veggies, but we were pros at this, so we knew exactly what to do!
• The fish was amazing! We had fish every week, very fresh and very tasty.
• The pasta!  Let me tell you about the pasta … pasta could be found in (4) different sections of the store, yes, that is right FOUR!  Pasta was in the produce section, bakery section, frozen section, and there was an entire aisle also dedicated to pasta.  It was incredible.
• We always did the self-checkout at the PAM. It was easiest and the fastest, though there was one significant difference at the PAM than any other store we’ve been too … there was a gate to exit that required you to scan your receipt, and that receipt could only be scanned once.  We learned that the hard way. If you missed it, check out my Just A Quick Little Errand blog post.

Here are a few pictures from the PAM:

^Here’s the apples!

^Here’s the refrigerated milk.

^Here’s the bakery / bread section.

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^Here’s the pasta, pasta, and more pasta!

^Here’s the fresh fish section.

^Yes, even in Italy, a random aisle is dedicated to all things Halloween!

^This is the exit gate at the self-checkout.