Charles and Camilla stop for coffee like locals on Italy tour

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Robert Jobson3 April 2017

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall stopped for a coffee break on tour today and drank it like the locals standing at a bar.

The royal couple visited the Mercato Sant' Ambrogio, a bustling market in the heart of Florence on the fourth day of their visit to Italy.

They ordered a cappuccino each from Caffe Barni at the entrance to the market, which has been at the same site since 1873.

Prince Charles got served straight away and enthusiastically sipped the cup handed to him by the barrista.

Camilla's only arrived just as the couple had to leave for a tour of the market.

But she took a couple of sips of the scalding drink and told the owner, Paolo Baracani: 'I've not got time to drink it but it was very good.'

The couple stopped off at a butcher's stall run for the last 40 years by Luca Menoni, who started working at the market when he was 13.

He told them: ' Florentines in particular appreciate good food and knowing where it came from. Everything we sell comes from the local area.

The people here appreciate the market and the value of having somewhere where they can talk about where what they will eat comes from.'

Also on their route was La Botteghina Dell'Augusta, a delicatessen, where the couple were offered samples, before ploughing their way through the ten-deep crowds surrounding stalls packed shoulder high with fruit and vegetables.

The couple smiled and took the mobbing in their stride, however.

Finally they made their way into an event run by an old friend of Charles, Carlo Petrini, Founder of the Slow Food Movement.

Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, to counteract the rise of the fast food culture.

It is an international movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries.

Charles was in his element as he was shown around several stalls displaying enticing local delicacies including ham and pecorino cheese from the Abruzzo region as well as areas affected by the earthquakes of 2016.

He was fascinated by one stall displaying roveja, a type of pea which is grown high on the Sibillini mountain and then dried.

'It's so important to keep it going,' he said.

'I learnt a lot about food from my friend Antonio.l Carluccio thirty years ago.'

'Where do you grow this?' He asked.

'The mountain tells us where we should grow it,' he was told.

He and Camilla gamely tried dozens of samples, including a local beer made from potatoes.

As he nibbled a locally-made cheese the prince declared: 'Oh this is just wonderful.'

Camilla also drank a glass of milk produced that morning: 'It's so fresh and really creamy,' she remarked.

By the end of the event Charles tried to limit the amount of samples he tried, prompting Camilla to joke: 'He'a saving up for lunch.'

As they left to further chaotic scenes as the crowds surged forwards to meet them, she joked: 'I've lost him. Plus ca change!'

The couple are midway through a lengthy trip of Europe, taking in Romania and Austria too.

The visit, taken at the request of the British Government, is being viewed as a post-Brexit charm offensive.

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