A visit to Porta Portese and I was in heaven. Wandering down the streets in Rome’s largest & best street market is eye candy for a shopper, especially a market lover. Here, every Sunday morning starting at 6am, you can find pretty much anything your heart desires.
Clothing
This is definitely the place to buy clothing! There are gobs of stalls selling used clothing for as little as 50 cents a piece! It is actually quite overwhelming, but if you are persistent and have time on your hands, you could hit the jackpot here I’m sure.
New clothing was also available. My favourite stall had everything sorted by colour and on hangers. Super cute dresses, skirts, tops and pants. Everything at this vendor was 10 Euros each. And all was brand new with tags still attached. I was able to find a beautiful blue & white dress and a blue linen top. What a bargain!
Antiques
I read many reviews of people saying there were little to no antiques anymore. I think they did not explore far enough into the market. I was able to find a street that had nothing but antique vendors lining both sides of the street and into a plaza. There were so many amazing and beautiful old and vintage items, it was fascinating and tempting.
If you are visiting for the antiques, persevere through all the clothing and you will find the treasure.
Food
A few ready to eat food vendors were around but not too many. There was a large stall selling all sorts of nuts. He had a large bin of beautiful fresh walnuts that looked so good. The vendor also had a huge working peanut roaster right in the middle of his goods. I could feel the heat baking the nuts, it smelled and felt lovely in the brisk morning air.
Another stall sold porchetta (a scrumptious roasted pork cooked for 8 hours with herbs rolled inside), rustic bread and all sorts of salamis. My mouth was watering, and I will visit him again this Sunday.
Household goods
Just about everything was available for sale, from kitchenware, linens, tools, sewing notions, light bulbs etc. Even stalls selling wash products and grocery.
Accessories
Loads of shoes, bags, purses, belts, ties, socks, undergarments, you name it, they had it. Also available was jewellery, all things hair, makeup, lotions and potions and perfumes.
Weird & Wonderful
Alright, there is always some wonderfully strange items that show up at markets! Is this not one of the best reasons to explore? Porta Portese market did not disappoint.
I’m not really sure how many streets this market covers. I definitely lost my way. I thought I was covering ground that I had already passed, just going back the other side of the street, but I ended up on a completely different avenue.
If you are in the area and love markets or are just curious about what is available in an Italian market, this would be a marvellous experience. It was lively, really busy by the time I left just about 2 hours later, and absolutely worth the trip.
