Rome's Craft and Artisan Shops
Expect a Treasure Trove of Craftsmanship when Shopping in Rome
Oct 3, 2008
What might you buy in Rome that typifies the "best" of Italian merchandise? Rome is much like any other capital city when it comes to searching for a representative selection of the best of what a country has to offer. You might do better in Florence or Milan, but shopping in Rome is far from disappointing.
Rome is well stocked with shopping opportunities: Alessi kitchenware, spongeware salad bowls, pots and other imports from Apulia, fabrics and textiles, rustic-style ceramics, fine art and antique furniture.
Many artisan traditions are kept alive in Rome, and old workshops are scattered along Rome’s streets, making jewellery, gilding gesso picture frames, cabinets or restoring marbles – and only too ready to welcome you in to show you how it's done.
Shopping Areas in Rome
Rome’s stores are often grouped together in a single street according to merchandise or artisan tradition. Sometimes this convention is rooted in Rome’s history, when a street might have been named after the traditional Roman craft of its residents, and there are enclaves all over Rome where the practice has survived. This makes it easier to compare prices and styles, quite apart from the fact that it adds significantly to Rome’s character.
Shopping for Antiques in Rome
In spite of its inelegant name, Via del Babuino ("babuino" means baboon) is one of Rome's most elegant and expensive shopping thoroughfares. It is lined with stores selling everything from old masters, modern art, quality antique furniture, silverware, old porphyry vases and marble statues to modern glassware and lampshades.
Even if you are not shopping for antique tables and gilded mirrors, Murano chandeliers or battered pictures of the saints, the streets of Rome still make an interesting evening stroll. There are cabinet-makers, marble restorers, interesting old doorways and courtyards, and the omnipresent café in which to refresh yourself. Many of Rome’s antique stores are to be found in exclusive Via Giulia, Via Fontanella Borghese and Via Sistina, while Via del Corso Governo Vecchio is the source of antiques at extremely reasonable prices. Ancient Via dei Cappellari ("street of the hatmakers"), Via Monserrato and Via del Pellegrino are where the cabinet-makers are grouped.
One of the best things about shopping in Rome is that you can shop late, often until 8.30pm. It means you can return to a store where you saw an interesting item earlier in the day, try it on at leisure, then take it straight to your hotel. For a great selection of places to stay with discount prices visit Rome Hotels for more information. After all, who wants to carry a new pair of shoes around Rome all day? The late shopping hours really do justify Rome’s nickname – "the Eternal City."
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