BRAVO, ERMANNO!

Longtime Highwood resident Ermanno Amidei’s alarm clock blares at 1:59 a.m., every morning.

Not at 1:45 a.m.

Not at 2 a.m.

At 1:59, exactly. It’s how Mr. Amidei rolls, as the kids say these days. And it’s when he rolls out of bed.

He’s not that shuffling, bleary-eyed man who grumbled, “Time to make the donuts,” in a 1980s television commercial for a certain baked goods and coffee chain that would truncate its name from Dunkin’ Donuts to Dunkin’.

Far from it.

Amidei, 75, wakes up that early each day (each night, to many) because it’s the start of his workday as owner of the open-air market Amidei Mercatino (“little market”)—located in an alley near historic Market Square in Lake Forest—and he wants to provide much healthier fare for fans of fresh fruits and vegetables.

“I try to put my clothes on after getting out of bed,” cracks the engaging, highly approachable Amidei, who goes to bed at 9 p.m., and typically drives each morning to five places in Chicago, where he procures only the best produce for his customers in Lake County, and sometimes travels to Amish Country east of South Bend, Indiana, to pick up asparagus, green onions, and tomatoes.

By 4:15 a.m., or so, he’s on his way back to the North Shore without having to worry about traffic jams.

“Look at my hair,” adds Amidei, who, on an early afternoon in May, stands in the middle of his cozy, narrow, 700-square-foot workplace that turned 35 years old in mid- April. “Guess how many times I’ve combed it today.”

He waits a few seconds before smiling and admitting, “Not once.”

Amidei Mercatino opens on April 15 and closes on October 21 each year. Its business hours Monday through Saturday are 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sundays?

Here’s where Amidei’s humor emerges once again. The sign at the entrance of his colorful, welcoming space—the market also sells plants, flowers, honey and herbs— informs the public, “After golf.”

“I sometimes play 36 holes of golf on Sundays,” says Amidei, who emigrated from a town near Florence, Italy, to the United States more than 60 years ago and worked at a local golf course for a spell before opting to focus on selling edible greens instead of toiling near undulating greens.

“I love what I do, and I love it here,” says Amidei, whose home golf course is Deerpath in Lake Forest. “The atmosphere at my market is wonderful, and I truly believe it’s the best in the state because I travel a lot to find the best produce. Right now, I’m standing where the Lake Forest Community Center used to stand (and behind Market Square’s old Marshall Field’s building). Couples that are about to get married stop by here to pose for pictures. So do prom couples.

“There are many rewards that come with what I do, but there are challenges too,” he continues. “I try every day to give what our customers want and expect. You know what? That’s hard.”

What’s easy on the ears for Amidei is either hearing the voice of a regular customer calling him on the phone to ask, “What’s good today, Ermanno?” or being the target of the greeting, “Welcome back! We love you!” from another regular— this one browsing at his market—a month after Day One of Amidei Mercatino’s 2024 season.

Among Amidei’s favorite Amidei Mercatino items, in no particular order, are cherries, artichokes, green beans, and basil plants. The man likes to make soup and pasta at home.

Amidei, whose grandfather arrived in the United States in 1908, was a 15-year-old boy interested in geography when he boarded a DC-10 jet bound for Montreal, where he and his family stayed briefly, and later settled in Highwood. Ermanno’s brother Pete and their late father, Carlo, opened Carlo’s Tailor Shop in Lake Forest nearly 55 years ago.

It’s still in business, with Pete running the show.

“My father was the best tailor,” Ermanno Amidei says. “The problem in tailoring now is, there just aren’t many good tailors left.”

Ermanno’s wife of nearly 50 years, Judy, is a Highwood native who asked her future husband out for their first date. They got on a plane and spent time together in … Florida.

Not exactly dinner and a movie, though maybe they enjoyed both somewhere over Tennessee.

Judy served as a nurse for School District 112 and at Lake Forest Hospital. She was recognized by the Illinois Board of Nursing for her outstanding work as a school nurse.

Ermanno and Judy raised three children— Moses, Ruth, and Adam. Moses lives in Mundelein, and Ruth, who makes a mean biscotti, and Adam call Highwood home. Ermanno and Judy have five grandchildren.

If you’re wondering who lives in the Highwood house that sits behind a front-yard garden that features 1,000 tulips each year, wonder no more.

Ermanno and Judy reside there.

Ermanno, by the way, usually delivers flowers and/or plants three times a day to Amidei Mercatino customers.

Because of Amidei Mercatino’s unique setting, particularly its lack of a roof, new customers often express genuine concern for Ermanno and his vast array of wares.

“People have asked me, ‘What do you do when it rains?’” Amidei says as he glances skyward.

“I tell them,” as his straight face heads south, ‘I get wet.’”

Deadpan-funny, delightful, real.

That’s Ermanno Amidei.

Amidei Mercatino’s Market Square location is at 235 Southgate in Lake Forest. For more information, call 847-295-5890.