Shopping in Rome is almost as important a cultural experience as visiting the Colosseum. With fashion and design such an intrinsic part of the Italian way of life, you’ll discover that walking Via Condotti or exploring the markets of Monti teaches you as much about present Italy as Roman ruins do about the past.
And then there are the products. This is the country of global names such as Bulgari, Prada, Pucci, and Gucci, all of which have flagship stores here on some of the most glamorous shopping streets in the world.
Rome is also outstanding for independent shops, including cobbled lanes where artisans craft must-have gifts. From soft leather purses to vintage fashion, designer jewelry, and culinary treats, you’ll find everything you need here, as well as all those gifts and treasures you didn’t even know you needed.
Campo de’ Fiori
Campo de’ Fiori
Campo de’ Fiori is a piazza famous for its eponymous market. It’s also a landmark from which radiates several top-choice shopping streets.
This hive of commerce is located just south of the baroque fountains of Piazza Navona. Open every day except for Sunday, you’ll usually find it mobbed by Romans loading fresh fruit and vegetables into their canvas shopping bags, selecting from pyramids of artichokes and piles of fleshy porcini mushrooms.
Campo de’ Fiori
The market is also superb for cheeses, pasta, and even glasses of freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. For something a little stronger, return to the piazza after the stalls have shut up for the day.
In the evenings, Campo de’ Fiori switches from market to social center, where bars and restaurants—including mozzarella bar, Obicà—open their doors for an always lively aperitivo scene.
Read: Three Days in Rome
Via dei Giubbonari
Via dei Giubbonari Photo by Mister No on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 3.0
The streets surrounding Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori marketplace are named for trades. The name of one such shopping thoroughfare, Via dei Giubbonari, translates as “street of tailors”.
In this case, the tailors referred to were the medieval corset weavers, or “gipponari”. And while trades related to fabric have always had a home in Via dei Giubbonari, after the war the street earned itself the nickname of “Via dei Cicaroli”. This referred to scavenging entrepreneurs who would re-sell the tobacco from cigarette butts they’d collected.
Times, happily, have moved on, with many cutters of cloth returned to this historic shopping street. Expect to find everything from tailored Italian shirts in Asole & Bottoni to a mammoth range of graphic tees in Friking.
It’s not all shirts, however, with Italian boutique Bags & Fruits supplying a colorful catalog of stylish purses and wallets.
Trastevere
Trastevere
The trendy neighborhood of Trastevere has been a mercantile hub since Roman times. During the boom in foreign trade that accompanied the Republic’s expansion in the third century BC, traders would arrive at coastal Ostia and travel inland to sell their wares in Trastevere.
Today, the cobbled lanes of Trastevere offer some of the most eclectic and charming shopping in Rome, with unique independent shops ideal for dipping in and out of. With the neighborhood renowned as a place to eat outstanding traditional Roman cuisine, it’s easy to make a day of it.
Trastevere
Follow the buttery, baked aromas filling Via del Luce to Biscottificio Innocenti’s fragrant space. This family-run bakery produces mouthwatering biscuits and fruit tarts, and Stefania and her daughter are very happy to provide advice on what to try.
Delve for vintage scarves in hipster magnet, Twice Vintage, or breathe in the real leather aromas of Carlo Cecchini on Via della Lungaretta—a boutique renowned for its handcrafted Italian leather goods.
Spanish Steps
Spanish Steps
The broad, elegantly organized Spanish Steps has long been a feature of fashion shoots for luxury brands. But this Roman landmark is more than just a photogenic backdrop, as the streets surrounding it are lined with designer clothes shops.
The Spanish Steps falls into the Tridente shopping area, so-called for the trio of boutique-laden streets leading from nearby Piazza del Popolo. What this means is that, post-Spanish Steps selfie, you can swiftly immerse yourself in some of the best luxury goods shopping in Rome.
Via Condotti, which leads off from the Spanish Steps, is perhaps the most prestigious shopping street in the city. For a less high-profile experience, where you can still hear the click of expensive heels on the sidewalk, find your way to Via Borgognona for Roberto Cavalli, Emilio Pucci, Malo, and more.
Via delle Carozze and Via Frattina, the latter the home of Swarovski, also offer a seemingly endless slideshow of beguiling window displays.
Via dei Condotti
Via dei Condotti
One of the world’s most singularly fabulous streets for its sheer density of luxury brands, Via dei Condotti, or simply “Via Condotti” leads off from the foot of the Spanish Steps and off into designer boutique heaven.
The most exclusive names are found here, from Prada to Louis Vuitton and everything in between. When you need a macchiato and a chance to put down your bags, stop at Caffé Greco. The oldest cafe in Rome, it used to supply Keats, Goethe, and Stendhal with their morning espresso and has been a landmark on Via Condotti since 1760.
Via Condotti is as busy as you can imagine, even with the shoppers spilling off the sidewalks and walking in the mostly pedestrianized street. Make a quick escape with your laden bags into the Rome Metro at Spagna station, just the other side of the Spanish Steps.
Via del Corso
Via del Corso
With a name that recalls the chariot races that were once held here on festival days, today the only races happening on Via del Corso are on foot during the sales.
So be sure to wear comfortable footwear. Via del Corso’s impressive length—just over a mile from Piazza del Popolo to Piazza Venezia—makes it the longest shopping street in Rome. Fortunately, it’s wide as well as long, ensuring plenty of sidewalk space as you browse
And there’s much to catch the eye, from Apple watches to stylish swimwear at Calzedonia. For those bright bangles and ornate rings you’ve been coveting on the tanned wrists and fingers of fashionable Romans, stop into Marlu and Stroili. Try Boutique Dodo for a sparkling something with a more youthful feel.
Via Cola di Rienzo
Via Cola di Rienzo
Located in the upmarket Prati neighborhood, Via Cola di Rienzo brings you a wealth of international and local shops but without the intense footfall that you’ll find in the more central Tridente.
Connecting Piazza del Popolo with the Vatican, this leafy shopping boulevard hosts the avant-garde fashions of Abitart as well as the lacy Prêt-à-Porter creations of Liu Jo, a modern fashion label with origins in the island of Capri.
Via Cola di Rienzo is also the location of Coin Excelsior. Within the stylish arches of this three-story department store, you’ll find make-up counters, brand-name clothing, and an espresso top-up point to keep your deal-detecting senses optimized.
The homeware department also stocks a superb array of coffee cups, including the Italian-made ceramic Preta range.
Via del Governo Vecchio
Via del Governo Vecchio
Offering one of the most picturesque shopping experiences in Rome, Via del Governo Vecchio, near Piazza Navona, offers an array of indie shops, wine bars, and what is widely considered the smallest house in Rome, no. 66.
A cobblestoned lane that sashays through striking medieval architecture, Via del Governo Vecchio is the home of Omera & Cecilia Vintage, run by a husband and wife team, that’s a north star for Roman vintage clothes lovers. Also here is the Otherwise Bookshop, one of the city’s best purveyors of English-language titles.
Afterward, pop into Enoteca Il Piccolo for a celebratory glass of Montepulciano, or, if it’s still morning, try the chocolate-dipped gelato of the Frigidarium. As you walk, your eyes will likely be distracted from the sales displays to the gilt and grandeur of some of the buildings, including the palazzo decorated with golden profiles of famous Italian jurists.
Porta Portese
Porta Portese
This immense, chaotic flea market is set up every Sunday around the Porta Portese, a 17th-century triumphal city gate.
Eclecticism is the name of the game at Porta Portese, with tables of antique jewelry, car parts, and vintage clothes offering a bargain for the sharp-eyed. Arrive early to increase your chances of success, although if you don’t have any luck, there remains the chance to soak up the market’s unique character.
People-watching here is absorbing. The locals haggle amicably with the professionally disinterested stall owners. It’s an open-air showcase of that charming Italian trait: communication by gesture.
Via dei Coronari
Via dei Coronari
Lined with 15th and 16th-century buildings, Via dei Coronari, known more commonly as I Coronari, is arguably the most picturesque location for shopping in Rome.
Formerly an old Roman road that linked the Tiber with Piazza Colonna, I Coronari is today a characterful sliver of Italian Renaissance architecture. Among its overflowing flower boxes and seductive side street restaurants, you’ll find a mix of antiques and art shops.
It’s also one of the best places to purchase a religious keepsake such as an icon or rosary beads. The name of the street used to refer to sellers of rosary beads or “corone” who gathered here to sell to the pilgrims entering the city from Porta del Popolo.
Mainstays of this atmospheric street include Galleria dei Coronari with its gilt-framed oils, the quills and beautifully bound books of Manufactus Made in Italy, and Del Giudice Roma for your next Italian leather clutch bag obsession.
Via della Scrofa
Via della Scrofa Photo by Vcencelli on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
On the map long before Alfredo invented fettucini at the Alfredo alla Scrofa restaurant, Via della Scrofa is an ever-popular destination for shopping in Rome’s historic center.
Its name derives from the marble sow, a piece of 15th-century bas-relief that you’ll find on the exterior of what used to be a convent. As for shopping, Via della Scrofa offers a deliciously difficult choice of restaurants, clothes boutiques to browse, and hip homeware shops such as Arredamento Contemporaneo.
More outstanding gifts can be found in contemporary jeweler Co.Ro.Jewels, while Sempre Natale gets you into the Christmas spirit with its unique tree ornaments that include a must-have glitter-sprinkled cannoli.
Castel Romano Outlet
This outstanding outdoor mall is located about 20 minutes drive from Rome. With discounts of up to 70 percent on numerous items, many find it well worth the travel time. With an architectural footprint inspired by a Roman forum, the Castel Romano Outlet’s 110 boutiques are spread across a daunting ten square miles.
Expect all the top brands including Karl Lagerfeld, Adidas, and Versace. Overhead colorful installations of umbrellas shade the commercial corridors below. Restaurants and cafés are dotted about to ensure you can keep shopping from dawn until dusk.
If you’re not renting a car, the most cost-effective method of reaching the outlet is on one of the four daily buses that depart in the morning from the main Termini station. Private transfers are also available, as well as taxis.
Monti
Monti
Only ten minutes’ walk from the Colosseum, Monti has over the centuries changed from a Roman slum into one of modern Rome’s liveliest quarters. It’s also a superb place to shop independent boutiques, vintage clothing stores, and hard-to-find-elsewhere home decor.
The most browseable streets for clothes include Via dei Serpenti, Via del Boschetto, and Via Urbana. Find Mercato Monti at Via Leonina 46 for one of the city’s most beloved spots to bag a unique find. It’s the commercial synthesis of Monti’s hipster character, with art, vintage clothes, and much more sold from stalls at this indoor urban market in Italy.
La Rinascente
La Rinascente Photo by Clementeste on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
If your calves are feeling the burn after days of taking in Rome’s medieval and Renaissance magnificence, or if it’s simply raining, then La Rinascente might be the place for your date with Roman retail.
With two different properties in the city, you’ll most likely prefer the flagship La Rinascente located on Via del Tritone. With eight stories of outstanding shopping and dining possibilities, it offers more choice and an updated vibe compared to the older store on Piazza Fiume.
However, nowhere in Rome is ever entirely new, and at the Tritone store you’ll find a Roman aqueduct on display in its basement.
The escalators will bear you gently between floors that heave with high-end boutiques. The sixth and seventh floors offer dining possibilities that include rooftop restaurants, Japanese-Brazilian sushi, and a champagne and oyster terrace.
The eighth floor of La Rinascente is the Aldo Coppola atelier. Have your hair coiffed and colored as you gaze out blissfully over Rome’s eternal skyline.
Read: Best Day Trips From Rome
Piazza Navona
Explore the high-end and hipster charms of shopping in Rome on a cruise to Italy. Browse our Rome cruises and book a vacation to this irresistible country today.
