Gianluca Pardelli is something of an expert on markets. For the past two years, he’s travelled across eastern Europe, from Azerbaijan to Uzbekistan, Moldova to Georgia, photographing them. Here: Rustavi, Georgia. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Makhachkala, Dagestan. ‘Markets in the former Soviet Union are a very curious mix of different cultural flavours,’ Pardelli says. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Odessa, Ukraine. ‘They can’t be defined as European or Asian. They are neither exotic nor familiar for the western traveller. They are somewhat reminiscent of eastern Europe before the second world war, mixed with a bit of Arab and Jewish souk and a touch of Turkish bazaar’. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Kokand, Uzbekistan. Pardelli, originally from Italy, sees the markets as unique places to photograph regional produce, speciality cuisines and local people exchanging the latest gossip. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Telavi, Georgia. The photographer says his fascination with Slavic languages and culture took him onto a long journey through post-Soviet Europe, before he finally settled in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Tolkuchka, Turkmenistan. Already working as a photojournalist before his trip, Pardelli set out to create a visual study of customs and food habits across the region. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Baku, Azerbaijan. Pardelli suggests that the markets are indicative of something deeper than just trade: they’re places where the links between the traditional past and the present jostle up against each other. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Kokand, Uzbekistan. The atmosphere and smells, and the way traders and customers interact echo a way of life from the Soviet era, or even earlier, Pardelli says. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Yoshkar-Ola, Republic of Mari-El. The photographer hopes to show how hints of histories and traditions can be found in the present, in a simple image of a stall selling fresh fish in Astrakhan or pumpkins in Odessa. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)





Astrakhan, Russia. A version of this gallery first appeared in The Calvert Journal, a guide to the new east. (Photo by Gianluca Pardelli)