Eight tips on how to survive the Rome flea market
8 Porta Portese Tips
This Rome information blog about the Porta Portese fleamarket in Trastevere is written for the guests of the B&B Chaplin Hostel Rome and the Bed and Breakfast Little Italy.
The Porta Portese flea market: Big crowds in small spaces, pickpockets, gypsies, aggressive stallholders, chaos… Here follow some tips on how to best visit Rome’s liveliest Sunday morning spot.
1. Get up early and avoid the biggest tourist crowds.
2. Bargain! The word “tourist” is written in large letters on your forehead so the price of things doubles as soon as the stallholder lays his eye on you. Getting something for less than half of the original asking price is not exceptional in Porta Portese.
3. Before starting to bargain, try to figure out for yourself how much you would be willing to pay for an object. Unless you are an expert, you will not know its real anyway, so just, so begin by using your own common sense.
4. Speak English. Being friendly and using your humble and respectful mouthful of Italian just puts you at a disadvantage and increases your chances of being humbly and respectfully taken for a ride.
5. Be extremely careful for pickpockets, especially after 10am, the peak time of the Porta Portese flea market. Like most streets in the ancient part of Rome, the ones in Trastevere are extremely narrow and you will be forced to shuffle rather than walk through the crowds: a paradise for pickpockets and gypsies.
6. Do not keep your wallets in your back pockets, keep your backpack and phot camera in front of you where you can see them, and hide your valuable possessions underneath your clothes, or leave them in the room of your hotel, hostel or bed and breakfast.
7. Obvious, but still: nothing, really nothing offerd for sale at the Porta Portese flea market dates from ancient Roman times.
8. Buying a fake Louis Voutton-bag or Rayban-sunglasses can get you fined. This is rare, but when it happens, play the dumb and humble tourist game.
9. Do not be afraid, be careful, otherwise you might forget to enjoy the market and Porta Portese is well worth it.