Rome

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Shopping tips and trends

The days when Rome‘s shopping districts were a succession of family-owned businesses – whether those families were greengrocers or haute couture Fendis – are a thing of the past, and the busy retail artery here, as in all western cities, is increasingly dominated by chains.

 

Food and markets
Just as Romans favour smaller shops over sprawling department stores (partly, admittedly, because space is so tight in the centro storico that there are very few department stores to be found), so they will, if they can, opt for a market rather than a supermarket for buying fresh produce.

 

Most districts have a market, and most are open from 6.30 or 7am until about 1.30pm Monday to Saturday. The most central are in campo de’ Fiori and in via del Lavatore, beneath the walls of the Quirinale Palace; neither of these are cheap. The markets on via Cola di Rienzo, by piazza Vittorio, in Trastevere’s piazza San Cosimato and in piazza Testaccio are more realistically priced.

 

If market bustle is too daunting, use one of the rash of mini-markets (GS Dì per Dì, PAM, Despar) that have recently sprung up around the centro storico; you’ll have to look carefully, however, because many are concealed behind unobtrusive doors into grand palazzi.

 

The Monday to Saturday morning market in via Sannio, just outside the Roman walls by San Giovanni in Laterano, has vast volumes of cheap clothes.

 

On Sunday mornings, via Portuense south from the Porta Portese gate becomes a huge, seething flea market. Watch out
for pickpockets and sharp traders.

 

What to buy where
Fresh (as opposed to long-life) milk was once sold exclusively in bars which were also labelled latteria; you’ll now find it in most grocers and all mini-markets. Bars are also the handiest places to pick up bottled water. (Note that bars are obliged by local by-laws to provide parched passersby with a free glass of tap water – acqua dal rubinetto.)

 

Stamps can be bought only in post offices or at tabacchi (look for shops with a white T on a blue background outside) which are the only places where you can legally buy tobacco. Tabacchi are also where you play the lottery and buy bus tickets, though these latter are available from most edicole (newspaper kiosks) too.

 

Newspapers are only for sale at edicole, though magazines are also available in some large bookshops. The IHT and the international edition of the Guardian are on newsstands at dawn; other British papers arrive mid-morning; US papers turn up later in the day, or the following morning.

 

All medicines – even fairly innocuous over-the-counter ones such as aspirin – are sold exclusively in pharmacies.

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