Everyone knows that Rome is about fashion, especially in the area of footwear. But unless you are born and raised in Rome, you will never be able to look like an Italian. So the most important thing to consider when visiting Rome is comfort. A great deal of walking is involved when seeing all the wonderful sights in Rome. The most important thing to consider is comfortable footwear. And this does not mean flip flops, fellow Americans! I speak from experience!

The cobblestones are just too wearing on something as flimsy as flip flops. There are too many people around to step on the back, too many broken curbs that pop up, etc. You need something like Ecco’s, Clarks, Mephistos, or a really comfortable walking shoe or sneaker. Especially something with support for your heel. In the summer, a good sandal is fine, but your feet will be filthy by the end of the day.

As to clothing, it is always best to dress in layers. The average temperature in the late fall and early winter is about 35-40 degrees fharenheit. Scarves are the greatest invention and are used constantly in Rome. It is important not to get your neck cold, as this will lead to other complications (according to Roman belief). It is easy to find inexpensive, nice looking scarves all over Rome. Bancarelli (street vendors) sell them and department and clothing stores usually have a great selection, no matter what season.

It is very easy to find a nice warm coat at the flea market, like Porta Portese, for around 5 euros. Many are water proof, which is important as it rains a great deal during the fall and winter. This leads to umbrellas. It’s better to bring a nice tote umbrella that is well made instead of buying one off the street. Those umbrellas sell for around 3 euros but at the first big wind, they break. You can see corpses of umbrellas all around Rome during the fall and winter months.

Roman stores are usually kept very warm inside during the winter so it’s best to be able to take off your coat and still stay warm. As for the summer, the temperature is usually scorching in July and August. You will notice very few Romans around town at that time. Most people repair to their mountain/beach houses and leave the city to the tourists or those who don’t have mountain/beach houses. Even stranieri (people from other places) find a way to go somewhere else cooler (last year we went to Copenhagen and Stockholm).

So if you are here, make sure you wear as little as possible without being indecent. There are some places that offer air conditioning, but not all places have that luxury. Cotton and linen are the best choices for the climate at that time of the year. Polyester is just too darn hot! During the day it can reach 95 degrees and at night it might cool down to around 80.

Make sure that you have a hat or head covering of some kind as well. It’s easy to get to the beach from the Metropolitana (Metro) or by bus, so make sure you bring your bathing suit. At the beach you can rent an umbrella and a chair for around 10 euros. Most beaches also have a bar where you can buy drinks and food.

You can find the “same” clothes at a banacarella for far less than at that fancy shop on Via dei Corso. We’ve purchased GEOX shoes ay a bancarella for less than half the price of the GEOX store down the street.

The bancarelle allow the average Italian a more economical option.
The prices allow locals to shop OFTEN… and that’s necessary because “looking good” is important! Staying “in season” can be a challenge on a limited budget. The bancarelle probably offer the best “buys” in Rome.

Most of the bancarelle are located near metro stops, or on major street corners in parts of town that many tourists do not get to. You won’t see them by the Pantheon or the Colosseo, but head off into the many neighborhoods that encircle centro Rome and they are quite prevalent.

We’re fortunate to live near the Ottaviano and Cipro metro station… so we have many, many options. Often, my wife will get off the metro at the Ottaviano stop so we HAVE to walk by the bancarelle on our way home. Prices range from 50 cents to 50 euro… but most items are under €10. If you purchase more than one item, you can often “bargain” for a lower price on the second or third. I tend to avoid the one-euro clothing tables. You really have to dig through these. And saying that, when shopping at a bancarella it sometimes pays to be a little assertive! It can often get VERY crowded.

Don’t confuse the bancarelle with the guys whose goods are laid out on the street, or are standing holding a collection of “Prada” purses. The bancarelle are regulated by the City of Rome and are legal. If you buy from guy with goods laid out on a sheet, you could be fined…. not the case at a bancarelle.

So when in Rome, do as the Romans do – head for your nearest bancarelle… dig in and save!

Rome is blessed with a wide variety of places to shop… and you cannot enjoy Rome – or any city in Italy – without visiting a local market. Fortunately, in Rome there is an abundance of “local” markets. Markets in Rome sell foods, collectables, flowers, antiques… you name it you can probably find it here in a Roman market!

Detailed below is a list of markets all through town. There are MANY more markets than these listed below. In addition, there are also the vendors who just set up on the street corners. You can walk around many corners in Rome and find a neighborhood market. In the list below I hope to give a starting point. Good luck!

Monday – Saturday

Campo de’ Fiori
Piazza Campo de’ Fiori.
Bus 44, 46. 62. 64, 70, 81, 90, 90b, 492. 46, 62, 64, 90, 70, 186
7.00 AM- 1.30 PM
Rome’s most picturesque market is also its most historical. Its name, Campo de’ Fiori, which translates as field of flowers, sometimes misleads people into expecting a flower market. In fact the name is said to derive from Campus Florae (Flora’s square) – Flora being the lover of the great Roman general Pompey. A market has actually been held in this now rather shabby, but still beautiful, piazza for many centuries. Every morning, except Sunday, the piazza is transformed by an array of stalls selling colourful fruit and vegetables, meat, poultry and fish. One or two stalls specialize in pulses, rice, dried fruit and nuts and there are also flower stalls situated near the fountain.

Piazza San Cosimato – Trastevere
Piazza San Cosimato.
Buses: 13, 44, 75, 710, 718, 719, 280.
6.00 AM- 1.30 PM
A traditional open-air, high quality, food market with stalls for flowers and household items.

Testaccio
Piazza di Testaccio
Buses: 13, 23, 57, 95, 716.
6.00 AM- 1.30 PM
Rich and lively market, in a working class area sells mostly food. Mercato di Testaccio contains greengrocers and butchers, fishmongers and sellers of cheese and dairy products, housed in a more permanent structure.

Via Magnagrecia – S. Giovanni
Via Magnagrecia
Buses: 4, 87.
6.00 AM- 1.30 PM
Covered, predominantly food market.

Via Sannio – S. Giovanni
Via Sannio. Metro A – S. Giovanni.
Buses: 118, 87, 16, 15, 81, 13.
8.00 AM- 1.00 PM, Sat until 6.00 PM.
Situated under the Aurelian walls, it is very similar to the Porta Portese market but much smaller. Mostly sells used and new clothing as well as camping goods. The centre of the market is covered, with stands on the surrounding streets. It sells mainly clothes and accessories.

Mercato dell’Unita – Prati
Via Cola di Rienzo.
Buses: 70, 81, 186, 280, 913.
7.00 AM- 8.00 PM
Covered food market, extremely interesting architecturally.

Ponte Milvio – Farnesina
Piazzale Ponte Milvio.
Buses: 911, 446, 201, 301, 168, 232, 220.
6.00 AM- 1.30 PM
Predominantly food, well stocked and well known for its fish.

Via Chiana – Trieste
Via Chiana
Buses: 57, 168, 319, 38, 58.
6.00 AM- 1.30 PM
Covered market, predominantly food and of good quality.

Piazza Alessandria – Trieste
Piazza Alessandria.
Buses: 36, 37, 60, 61, 62, 136, 137, 490, 495.
6.00 AM- 1.30 PM.
Food market housed in a liberty-style construction

Via di Val Melaina – Nuovo Salario
Via de Val Melaina
Buses: 38, 137.
6.00 AM- 1.30 PM
High-quality food market, among the most economical in Rome.

Mercato Andrea Doria (Also known as Trionfale) – Vatican-Prati
Via Andrea Doria.
Metro: Ottaviano. Bus 23, 70, 490, 907, 913, 990, 991, 994, 999.
7.00 AM- 1.30 PM
This market used to stretch the whole length of this wide avenue. Now it has been reorganized into a new building! Apart from the magnificent displays of fruit and vegetables, it has numerous stalls selling meat, poultry, fish and groceries, as well as an interesting clothes and shoe section. Situated northwest of the Vatican Museums, it is a little off the normal beaten track and has remained very much a Roman market that caters for the needs of the large local population. It is one of Rome’s best stocked and cheapest food markets.

Mercato delle Stampe
Largo della Fontanella di Borghese.
8.00 AM to 7.00 PM
This market is a veritable haven for lovers of old prints, books (both genuine antiquarian and less-exalted second-hand), magazines and other printed ephemera. The quality varies, but it is a good deal more specialized than the banche or stalls near Termini station which area more obvious tourist trap. Italian-speaking collectors can enjoy a field day leafing through back issues of specialist magazines. Other visitors might prefer the wonderful selection of illustrated art books and old prints of Rome. It is a good place to pick up that Piranesi print of your favorite Roman vista, ruin or church – but be prepared to bargain hard.

Mercato di Piazza Vittorio – Esquilino
Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II.
Metro: Vittorio Emanuele. Tram 14, Bus 70, 71, 105, 516, 517, 11, 14
7.00 AM- 2.00 PM
Bustling Piazza Vittorio was, until recently, perhaps the most Roman of the city’s larger markets. Organized as a cramped corridor of stalls around a central garden, it is the place where bargain-hunting popolari, Rome’s bustling shoppers, buy their food. Stallholders offer cheap prices if you buy by the kilo. Lately it has become more international and now features African and Asian food stalls. Some stalls have moved to the new site in Via Gioiitu; it is also one of the cheapest and best stocked food market around with excellent fish and regional cheeses.

Fiera del Linro (Book Show)
Via delle Terme di Diocleziano
9.00 AM to 7.00 PM

Tuesdays

Mercato dei Fiori
ViaTrionfale.
Metro Ottaviano. Bus 23, 70.
10.30 AM to 1.30 PM
Essentially a trade market, the Flower Market, just north of Via Andrea Doria, is open to the public only on Tuesdays. Housed in a covered hall, it has two floors brimming over with cut flowers – upstairs and all kinds of pot plants on the lower floor. Anyone who has an interest in flowers will enjoy this wonderful array of Mediterranean blooms, which are on sale at giveaway prices.

Fridays

Mercato Villaggio Olimpico – Flaminio
Viale della XVII Olimpiade.
Buses: 910, 225.
08.00 AM to 1.30 PM
Stalls laden with food, household items, straw goods, jewellery, clothing; captures the flavor of a roving country market, excellent prices included.

Saturdays

Via Tirso and Via Metauro Market
Via Tirso 14-Via Metauro 21
Open Saturdays and Sundays; Closed on the fourth Sunday of the month
10.00 AM to 8.00 PM
Interesting antiques and jewellery
Phone: 06-855-27-73

Lungotevere Capoprati
Ponte Milvio
Afternoons from 15:00
Charming antiques market along the banks of the Tiber: antique furniture, collectors’ items.

Sundays

Eco-Solidale
Comunità di S. Egidio, Via del Porto Fluviale, 2
Metro: Piramide ‘B’ line, FS Ostiense
6.00 AM to sunset
Solidarity and antique trade at the “eco-solidale market”, organized by the the S. Egidio community – Charity sale of toys and bric-a-brac.
Tel. 06/8992234

Palatenda – Il Circo del Mercanti
Between Ponte delle Valli (Via delle Valli) and Via Conca d’oro
Metro: Tiburtina ‘B’ line, change for FS Nomentana
9.00 AM to sunset
Some 40 stalls of crafts, clothing and collectables
Info 339/1305115

Centro Sportivo
Via Angelo Battelli
All day
Open-air antique market, books, collectors’ items

Via Tirso and Via Metauro Market
Via Tirso 14 &Via Metauro 21
Open Saturdays and Sundays; Closed on the fourth Sunday of the month
10.00 AM to 8.00 PM
Interesting antiques and jewellery
Phone: 06-855-27-73

Via Francesco Crispi
All day from 10:30 (Closed during Summer)
Antiques and collectors’ items.

Piazza della Marina (also known as the Garage Sale at Borghetto Flaminio)
Piazza della Marina, 32
10.00 AM to 8.00 PM
A wide selection of various articles from clothing to small antiques, books, and handmade articles. Some high-end designer clothing.

Porta Portese
Off Viale Trastevere
5.00 AM to 2.00 PM
This is the largest market in Rome. Stallholders come from as far away as Naples and set up shop in the early hours of the morning – if you are strolling in that direction after a late night in Trastevere, it’s well worth pausing just to watch them. Anything and everything seems to be for sale, piled high on stalls gin carefully arranged disorder – clothes, shoes, bags, luggage, camping equipment, linen, towels, pans, kitchen utensils, plants, pets, spare parts, cassettes and CD’S, old LPs and 78s.Furniture stalls tend to be concentrated around Piazza Ippotito Nievo along with what they call “antiques”, though you may have to sort through an awful lot of junk before finding a real one. And then you will have to bargain for it. A lot of people go just for the fun of it and always end up buying something. A must if you have a Sunday morning to spare. For more info, see our separate post on Porta Portese  

Porta Portese 2
Viale Palmiro Togliatti and Via Predestina
Metro: Anagnina ‘A’ line
6.00 AM to 2.00 PM
Rome’s biggest market moves northwards, to the Prenestina area on the Viale Palmiro Togliatti, with 100s of stalls offering new and used items of all kinds.

Pulp Fashion
Via Monte Testaccio, 66
Metro: Piramide ‘B’ line
All day
Vintage clothing, tie-dyed hippy shirts, music and street gear.
Tel. 33975539923

Paradise at Hotel Parco dei Principi – Atelier Ritz
Via G. Frescobaldi, 5, in the elegant halls of Hotel Parco dei Principi
10.00 AM to 7.30 PM
This market aims primarily at women’s clothing and accessories.

Micca Market
Via Pietro Micca 7/a – In the Micca Club, a short way away from Porta Maggiore
Many funny and bizarre objects “Carnaby Street style” and the opportunity to listen to live music and to taste a “Milanese aperitif”
Tel. 06/87440079

Special Markets

Anticaglie a Villa Glori
Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski
Saturdays & Sundays
9.00 AM to 8.00 PM
Antique porcelain vases, paintings, furniture

Piazza Augusto Imperatore
Piazza Augusto Imperatore
First and third Sunday of the month
Just a short walk from the Piazza del Popolo or the Spanish Steps with 70 stalls of antiques, collectables and bric-a-brac.
Tel. 0636005345

Ponte Milvio
Ponte Milvio (Milvian Bridge)
Metro: Flaminio ‘A’ line, then No. 2 tram to Piazza Mancini
First Sunday of the month
On the River Tiber, large antiques, crafts and collectables fair.
Tel. 069077312 / 069042459

Mercantino dei Partigiani
Piazza dei Partigiani
First Sunday of the month, except August
This small flea market is held in the basement of a garage and sells furniture and objects from 1940s and 1950s. Sometimes you even see middle class housewives from smart districts selling family items. The prices are really low, a style Italians refer to as modernariato

La Soffitta in Garage
Underground car park off piazza dei Partigiani, Ostiense Station (Park-Si).
First Sunday of the month
10.00 AM to 7.00 PM
Show-market, trades, collection exchanges and antiques.

Piazza Mazzini
Piazza Mazzini
Metro: Lepanto ‘A’ line
Second Sunday of the month
Over 100 stalls of antiques, collectables and crafts,
Tel. 069044263 / 3389657690

MONTEROTONDO
Just outside of Rome
Second Sunday of the month
This market is called the “the island of treasure” antique market.
Tel. 06 906 74215

Underground
Via Crispi, 96
Second Saturday and Sunday of the month.
This is a relatively new flea market that is held in a huge 4-floor garage between Piazza del Popolo and Via Veneto. There’s a bit of everything here, including a certain Mario Ambrosini, a screenwriter who worked with Fellini, who sells the miniature gifts you find in Kinder chocolate eggs to collectors and members of the Kindermania club. Prices vary and are often on the high side – All year except July, August, September.
10.30 AM to 7.30 PM

Villa Glori
Viale Maresciallo Pilsudsky
Metro: Flaminio ‘A’ line, change for train to FS Piazza Euclide.
Second Sunday of the month
9.00 AM to 8.00 PM
100+ stalls of furniture, collectables, crafts, artisan artefacts, and clothing in the upmarket Parioli area.

Valnerina (Villa Chigi markrt)
Via Valneria
Second Sunday of each month
7.30 AM till Sunset
Antique books and magazines

ALBANO LAZIALE
Castelli Romani Park
Second Sunday of the month.
Antiquary and handmade products

Giardino d’inverno
Via Panama, 25
Second and fourth Sundays of each month
10.00 AM to 7.00 PM
A little bit of everything

Mercato Antiquaria dell’ E.U.R.
Piazzale Luigi Sturzo
Metro: EUR Magliana or Palassport, ‘B’ line
Third Sunday of the month
90 stalls of furniture, collectables and bric-a-brac in the Fascist-era EUR suburb of southern Rome.
Tel. 065915750

Hotel Hilton
Roma Hotel Hilton, Via Cadlolo 101
Metro: Cipro, ‘A’ line, then bus (907,913, 991, 999) or walk to Via delle Medaglie d’oro)
Third Sunday of the month,
Stalls of collectables and bric-a-brac.
Tel. 0636307220

Prati Market
Via Lepanto
Metro: Lepanto ‘A’ line
Third Sunday of each month
9.00 AM to 8.00 PM
This market exhibits and sells an array of handicrafts, antiques, and hobby articles.

Curiosita’ in Terrazza Peroni
Via Mantova, 24 – Fourth floor of the car park
Third Sunday of the month,
10.00 AM to 9.00 PM
This is located in the underground parking garage of the former Peroni brewery.

Hotel Palatino
Via Cavour
Third Saturday of the month and the fourth Saturday in May
Comic books

Mostra Antiquaria di Villa Lazzaroni
Via Appia, 520
Third Sunday of the month
Antiques

Piazza Verdi
Piazza Verdi
Metro: Policlinico ‘B’ line then #3 or 19 tram to Piazza Ungheria – North-east of Villa Borghese
Fourth/last Sunday of the month
130+ stalls in the heart of the sophisticated Parioli district. Antiques and modern antiques: furniture, miscellaneous items, documents, coins and stamps.
Tel. 068552773

Antiquari in Testacio
Piazza S. Maria Liberatrice
Fourth Sunday of the month
9.00 AM to 8.00 PM

Galleria delle Stimmate
Largo delle Stimante, 1
Fourth Sunday of the month
10.00 AM to 7.30 PM
Mostly household goods and some jewelry. Also has excellent buys on antique lace, serving dishes, and old cutlery.

Market of Piazzale Ankara
Flaminio neighborhood
Fourth Sunday of the month
8.00 AM till sunset
Antiques, paintings, furniture, books
Tel. 339/7484573

Curiosit d’altri tempi (Curiosities from other times)
Viale Kant
Fourth Sunday of the month
8.00 AM till sunset
Antiques

Fashion al Tiberio
Grand hotel Tiberio -Via Lattanzio 51
Second-hand market. About 50 stalls with accessories like silk foulards, pashminas, pochettes, earrings and even shoes. And then clothes (also by famous stylists like Giorgio Armani, Dolce e Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli), and handicrafts like embroidered bags and costume jewellery.
Info 338/8645063.

 Market information was pulled from these links… Go to these for more great info! 

• Rome Guide
• Roman Rental – Markets in Rome
• Rome – Anglo-info – Markets
• TRF – Cotober 2008 – Rome Markets