If you love confusion and like browsing through a thousand good deals, the Sunday Porta Portese (link to Porta Portese) market has goods of all kinds and from all eras on sale: furniture, new and used clothes, theatrical costumes, food, flowers, bric-a-brac and chinoiserie, Russian caviar and cameras, CDs and antiques of all kinds.
Many other Sunday markets have joined the Porta Portese, mainly vendors of antiques and modern art. These include Borghetto Flaminio, near Piazzale Flaminio, Piazza Verdi in the Parioli neighbourhood, and Piazza Mazzini in Prati. Every first Sunday of the month, the little Ponte Milvio market overlooking the Tiber is an excellent opportunity to find 19th-century furniture, old fountain pens, collectible pipes and precision instruments.
At the Antiques Market at Villa Glori, on the second Sunday of the month, you can buy painted porcelain vases and small 19th and 20th century furniture pieces.
If you have a special passion for shoes and you like to wake up early, in the local market in Piazza dell’Emporio in Testaccio you’ll find great deals for men and women with samples of big brands at “slashed” prices and, about once a month, the white night, opening at midnight, with typical Roman events and live music.
For used clothing there are the historical Via Sannio market and the Via del Governo Vecchio boutiques, while objects and small antiques can be found at the Cinecittà market exhibition, where there are sometimes old flyers and posters of films from the 1960s and ‘70s.
On Saturdays only (10 am – 7 pm), there is the Court of the Artisans on Via La Spezia 105 where handcrafted pieces are exhibited: costume jewellery, tailoring, woodwork, paper, enamels and much more.