admin on January 18th, 2010

Living in Rome can be expensive – real expensive. Thank goodness for the bancarelle (“stalls”). The bancarelle offer a huge variety of goods – from kitchen supplies to winter coats to electronics to man’s ties! Your shopping options are endless. And because the vendors rotate their locations daily, you get different stalls in your neighborhood [...]

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admin on April 1st, 2009

 One of our favorite Sunday morning activities is to head over to Porta Portese, the largest “flea market” in Rome. Thank goodness it’s only open on Sundays. The vendors, thousands of them, start setting up early in the morning, and the market usually opens around 7 AM. Depending on the weather – and the crowds [...]

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admin on March 29th, 2009

 The VAT Refund is probably one of the most confusing aspects of shopping in Italy. VAT stands for Value-Added-Tax. In some countries the VAT can be as high as 25% of the cost of the item you’re purchasing. Unlike America, where the “sales tax” is added on once you get to the cash register, in [...]

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