Markets, Rome

every wednesday there is small (maybe 15 sellers) market for women shoes.
we found nice shoes there, cosy and relaxed place to buy nice quality design shoes cheap.

located at the north side of pza testaccio, at south side of the city. take subway and drop off at san giovanni station.

Well, it is in all the guidebooks. Maybe that's why you're thinking of going here?

Every Sunday morning, in Trastevere, just across the Ponte Sublico (one of the many bridges across the Tevere - the Tiber River) hundreds, maybe thousands of tourists come looking for an interesting flea market.

But I would guess that most leave very disappointed - and some of them get pickpocketed, to boot.

Frankly, there's mostly new, cheap junk. Hardly any interesting flea market finds at all - just the chance for the professional thieves to get another chance at your wallet or purse in crowded conditions while you're distracted.

I've got a better idea - it's nearby, and while there's some new cheap junk here, too, you'll find some real flea market finds as well. See my tip called: "Better than the Porta Portese Flea Market?" found here: http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/67a55/23513/6/

On Sunday mornings, lots of tourists head for Porta Portese flea market in Trastevere, but nearby, there's another market which I think offers a little more local color and a little less of the piles of cheap, new, plastic junk. Instead of going into the Porta Portese main entrance, continue heading west, to Viale di Trastevere and turn left. Walk down the street, noticing the impromptu shrine on the left to the Blessed Virgin, with many plaques thanking her for favors granted. At Piazza Benardino da Feltre, turn left and follow the hordes to Via Benedetto Musolino on the right. Just before the market stalls begin, there's a great little pastry shop on the left. To be sure, you'll find cheap, new, plastic junk here, too, but there are some real flea market finds as well.

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On Sundays from 7am to 1pm, every peddler from Trastevere and the surrounding Castelli Romani sets up a temporary shop at the sprawling Porta Portese open-air flea market. The vendors are likely to sell merchandise ranging from secondhand paintings of Madonnas and termite-eaten Il Duce wooden medallions, to pseudo-Etruscan hairpins, bushels of rosaries, 1947 TVs, and books printed in 1835. Serious shoppers can often ferret out a good buy. If you've ever been impressed with the bargaining power of the Spaniard, you haven't seen anything till you've bartered with an Italian. By 10:30am the market is full of people. As at any street market, beware of pickpockets! Porta Portese is located near the end of Viale Trastevere, very close to the Tevere river. (see map on pic no.2)

There is a wonderful flea market in Rome every Sunday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Porta Portese (watch your pockets and belongings.

Another flea market is located at via Sannio (near Porta S. Giovanni) open daily except Sunday until sundown.

Now that the biggest outdoor food market in Rome has been moved from the piazza to a new location, it's possible to admire this big square laid out in 1870. It is surrounded by palaces with arcades at pavement level, very much alike the ones you can see in Turin but very unusual anywhere else. In the center of the Piazza are the gardens with pieces of a roman fountain of the 3rd century A.C. and a mysterious ruin of the 16th century , the Porta Magica (Magic Door). The Porta Magica originally stood in front of a gate leading to the nearby garden of the villa of the marchese Massimiliano Palombara. A legend says that the door was raised as a commemoration of a successful transmutation that took place in Christina's of Sweden chambers. Interest in alchemy and in the transmutation of lead into gold was very common in the 16th century. The inscriptions on the doorway are supposedly the instructions for this transformations but have never been deciphered (!)

Campo de’Fiori, too late for the market, but lunch at the little restaurants in the market is not to be missed, and you're never too late to take a sip from this ancient looking forever running faucet.

Via Veneto Marketplace

A fantastic market not only for fresh fruits and vegetables but also for curiosity items from local vendors.

Open daily.
Located across from Hotel Fleming