Everything in Portaportese ... Portaportese for everyone!

Porta Portese is the most famous market in Rome, a historic place arisen after the war to become a crossroads of tourists, citizens and curious people. Located in the splendid setting of Trastevere, Porta Portese welcomes thousands of visitors every Sunday, all of them going around 1,000 stands looking for deals. Anyone visiting the eternal city must visit Porta Portese market at least once, to discover the popular Roman culture, part of the Italian capital charm.

The history of Porta Portese market
The name of this historical market in Rome comes from the Porta Portuensis, an ancient access to the city, situated in Trastevere district, in the middle of the Aurelian walls, built under the empire of Emperor Augustus. Porta Portese flea market was founded after the World War II, approximately in 1945, as a place of food and basic necessities exchange and sale, replacing the old market of Campo de 'Fiori.
At the beginning, the stands were situated along Via Portuense, and then extended along the streets nearby, till Viale Trastevere, over the years. Today as in the past, the market takes place on Sunday mornings, when hundreds and hundreds of Romans pour out the stands, looking for deals.
Today the Porta Portese market is a crowded and chaotic area, a mix of different cultures and Roman tradition going on animating Roman Sundays. Some desks are still the same of the past, some of them have turned into real shops, whether others have offered space and work to many foreigners looking for new opportunities.

What to find in Porta Portese
You can find everything in Porta Portese, the thousand and more stands offer any kind of new and used goods. Clothing, footwear and accessories are the best-sellers.
The main feature of this market is it offers very low prices, compared to other large markets in Italy. Winter clothing, especially jackets and leather jackets, together with fur coats, are the main products. Prices usually range from 50 to 60 euros, a reasonable price for so expensive items. Not all of them are in good conditions, of course, so you must always be very careful, before buying them.
You can also find knitwear, clothes, vintage clothing, used and new shoes from about 5-6 euros; so popular prices can’t obviously guarantee a very high quality, especially concerning new products, made low cost in China. In addition to clothing and footwear, you can really find everything, and there are several stands selling CDs, vinyls and other musical items, in the market of Porta Portese. Music has always been a protagonist of Porta Portese since its origins; a sort of soundtrack accompanied the economic boom and the rebirth of Rome, the eternal city. You can find vinyl collections of the '80s, of Italian and foreign groups, sometimes discovering limited editions, as for books, the other ancient article still protagonist, on Porta Portese’s stands. Lovers of old editions and classics can spend their Sundays discovering well-known and less known authors, history books, guides, ancient collections of poems, verses dedicated to Rome and tales. Books have always been part of the tradition of Porta Portese market, still merging modernity and the past.
Porta Portese always satisfies all its visitors, offering them antique and modern pieces of furniture, local and foreign handicrafts, watches, jewelry, toys, t-shirts and football team clothing, accessories for animals and much more yet. Do not miss the stands selling the typical chestnuts, or fried donuts, toasted peanuts and tarallucci. The first stands of typical products start to appear, where to buy certified cheese and salamis.

The art of negotiating the price
There is a rule in Porta Portese: everybody negotiates the price, and the winner is the best. The cost of the products is always relative, everyone knows prices are not fixed in the market; you have to negotiate, make offers, re-launch, and bluff. It is a custom of Porta Portese, a nice tradition rewarding the most experienced; it makes you discovering the skills and techniques of those who have been selling products there for years.

When to go to Porta Portese
Porta Portese market takes place from 6 am to 2 pm, every Sunday. The busiest times are from 9.30 am to 11.30 am, when the majority of tourists and citizens crowd the narrow passages among the stands, scattered on Via Portuense up to Viale Trastevere. Some stands have become real shops open during the week, too, but losing the typical Porta Portese atmosphere and the attraction of this place.

How to reach Porta Portese market
You can take the underground, and get off at the Marconi stop or at Piramide central station, to reach the Porta Portese market. From there, you have to take bus 280 or 23, both travelling along Via Marmorata and stopping a few meters from Porta Portuensis. From Marconi you have to take bus 170 towards the center, whether from Piazza Venezia you can get on the 170 line to Trastevere, stopping very close to the historical Porta Portese market.