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Flea Markets

If you've been in Rome for a
while, you may have become accustomed to the
Sunday routine of flea market hunting and
lunch.
It's an alternative to a weekend away,
and it's practiced from October to June, when
it gets too hot to stay in town.
The markets are staggered so that most Sundays,
one or the other is in full swing, even through
the winter rains.
Testaccio in
Festa A special
market selling hand-crafted items, collectibles
and regional food specialities.
Piazza Santa Maria Liberatrice (Testaccio)
Sunday, May 28 through Sunday, June 4, 5-11:30
pm
Borghetto
Flaminio
Just outside the gates of Piazza del Popolo,
the coming and goings of pedestrian traffic,
couples out for a Sunday morning stroll and
double parked cars give clue that something is
going on behind two low-slung buildings with
warehouse facades:great antique and modern
finds of vintage clothing, handbags,
sunglasses, crystal and silver objects, fab
bijoux (some pieces are signed) and finely
crafted semi-precious jewelry; rings, brooches,
necklaces, earrings, bracelets. The entrance
fee cost just a little more than your morning
cappuccino: €1,60.
Via Flaminia - Piazzale della Marina, 32 tel 06
588 0517
Sundays 10 am – 7pm
Villa Gloria
One hundred vendors set up their tables in
front of the park that fronts Villa Gloria,
selling everything from light bulb changers to
caviar dishes. Friends swear they’ve
found the best antique silverware here, and we
know for a fact that Parioli teenagers come
here to sell their outgrown sportswear with
status labels like Woolrich or Melville. Old
and new, collectibles, antiques, handi-crafts,
clothes.
Villa Glori along Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski
Tel. 06. 854 1461
Second Sunday of the month. (Parioli)
Ponte Milvio
Along the Tiber, at the spot where Constantine
defeated Maxentius in the Battle of the Milvian
Bridge, a market of comic proportions takes
place once a month, stretching from one bridge
to the next. What’s on sale is mostly
antique, or at least old — everything
from major pieces of furniture to small pieces
of jewelry. You’ll find porcelain,
silver, furniture, coral, cocktail glasses from
the thirties, icons from the Balkans. There is
always a lot of costume jewelry. It’s
hard to imagine how one country has managed to
amass so much of it.
Below the Lungotevere from Ponte Milvio to
Ponte Duc d’Aosta tel. 06 907 7312
Saturday-Sunday, first weekend of the month.
(Flaminio)
Porto Portese
This is the biggest flea market in Rome, and
one of the biggest in Europe, where you can
find a staggering assortment of goods, from
Murano lamps to cheap underwear to auto parts.
Go early and watch your purse. It gets
absolutely mobbed. Enter at Piazza Ippolito
Nievo if you are looking for antique furniture,
lamps, curiosities, rugs, furniture old lace
and embroideries. Enter from Piazza Porto
Portese if you are in the market for pots and
pans, clothing, shoes, housewares. It’s a
bit overwhelming but it’s fun because you
never know what you might find,so long as
you’re willing to press on through the
crowd to find it. Via Portuense from Piazza
Porto Portese to Piazza Ippolito Nievo. Tel.
06.582 33114 Every Sunday, dawn to 2 pm
(Trastevere)
Piazza
Mazzini In the
gardens surrounding a little lake, about 80 or
so vendors sell antiques, handicrafts,
paintings, collectibles.
Piazza Mazzini tel. 06. 904 426 23
Second weekend of the month, Friday
–Sunday (Prati)
Via Sannio
The tents and sidewalks along Via Sannio are
alive with merchants selling clothes, shoes and
accessories at prices well below retail.
You’ll find everything from a designer
fur coat or a cashmere sweater to a second hand
nightgown or a vintage dress, as well as socks,
wallets, bedspreads and curtains.
Just behind the Church of San Giovanni in
Laterano (San Giovanni)
Monday-Friday, 8 am –2 pm; Saturday 8 am
–5 pm
Soffitto Sotto i
Portici
The name means attic under the colonade, and
a lot of what you find here could really have
come from somebody’s attic. No large
pieces or furniture, but small collectibles.
Some of the things we’ve found: antique
binoculars, cameras from the early 19th
century, brooches from the 18th, a superbly
maintained collection of sunglasses from the
early 20th, the antique tools of an artisan
cabinetmaker, and picture frames from the 17th
century (mostly French) sold by a friend who
finds and restores them.
Piazza Augusto Imperatore tel. 06. 360
05345
First and third Sunday of the month.
(Trident)
Piazza Verdi
Held in an enormous square in upscale Parioli,
this market is known for its eyeball-numbing
selection of small antiques: dishes,
candlesticks, jewelry. Some of it is kitsch,
but some of it is beautiful and well-priced. A
handful of intruders sell new hats, clothing,
kilims, handicrafts, regional foods, but
it’s mostly vintage merchandise.
Piazza Verdi tel. 06.855 2773
Fourth Sunday of the month.
Anticaglie a Villa
Glori
Tables are set up in front of the park at Villa
Glori, selling everything from crafts to
antiques to bric-a-brac.
Viale Maresciallo Pidlsudsky (Parioli) tel 329
5639352
Sunday, 8 am - 8 pm |