Connoisseur’s
Guide to Porta Portese
By
M.J. Cryan
Every Sunday morning for the
past 50 years the network of streets in the Trastevere section between Viale
Portuense and Viale Trastevere is transformed from a normal neighbourhood into
one huge mass of tables and stalls with over 900 vendors selling everything
imaginable; new and used clothing, plants, pets, tools and bicycle parts, fake
Etruscan pieces and Roman bronzes as well as some genuine antiques.
If you are looking for blue
jeans, household goods or auto parts try the riverside entrance at Piazzale
Portuense where eager buyers stream under the famous Roman porta that gives the
market its name –Porta Portese.
If instead it is the rare, old
and unique you wish to track down, make your entrance from Viale Trastevere at
Piazza Ippolito Nievo.
The antiques section runs along both sides of tree-lined
Via Ippolito Nievo, Via Parboni and adjacent streets where the sharp-eyed
collector can find Fascist era mementoes, nativity figures, attractive imported
items, Depression glass and all kinds of collectables. Parking in the area is
virtually impossible so catch any bus running down Viale Trastevere to the Nievo
piazza or take a taxi there.
The first stop in Piazza Nievo
is at the numismatics dealer with his table full of Roman and foreign coins,
mosaic brooches, old cameos and carved gemstones.
If you are in a decorating
mood there are dealers of Indian antiques with a wide selection of metal and
wooden pieces recuperated from decaying palaces in northern India.
Nearby a few bancarelle
offer botanical, costume and decorative prints, landscapes and 19th
century maps as well as old books. Needless to say, discounts are offered (don’t
be afraid to ask) for quantity buying.
Only a fraction of the once
large Russian (also Polish, Moldavian, etc.) contingent is still working the
market with their linens, camera parts, bits of Baltic amber and some
questionable icons. They have been replaced by importers from other countries,
especially China.
From Indonesia there are wood carvings of plants and exotic
birds in bright primary colors that make attractive decorations for kids’
rooms.
Between a carpet dealer and a table filled with sequinned slippers and
incense sticks you can find heaps of necklaces in semi-precious stones such as
African malachite, tiger-eye and such at good prices.
Just before Carnival time
costume hunters can be seen digging through heaps of cast-off costumes, old hats,
battle gear, red-buttoned cassocks and the like to come up with original fancy
dress without spending a patrimony.
The labyrinth of streets around
Via M. Bezzi and Via Musolino calls for a lot of stooping if one wants to take a
good look at the ephemera spread out on the tarps.
Next to old passports,
yellowed letters, vintage photos and postcards one can find new discounted art
books and a selection of old clocks.
This is the way things were (and still are)
bought in the days before e-bay. Here the prospective customer can see,
touch, ask prices, bargain and then decide to buy.
Returning up the other side of
Via Bargoni there is a table dedicated exclusively to buttons of all colors,
shapes and sizes and another devoted to minerals and fossils.
Here one can find
marble and stone in every imaginable form: tiny pyramids, eggs, balls and
obelisks like those featured in glossy decoration magazines.
The
connoisseur’s next route runs along the two sides of Via Ippolito Nievo.
In
this sector there are English oak tables and dressers, cane kitchen chairs and
wardrobes too big and too battered for most people’s tastes.
Turn of the
century bedroom sets and leather divans that have seen better days are all there
for the asking and bargaining down of the prices. It is here that you can find
replacements for glass lamp shades, brass fittings, keys, towel racks, amusing
and decorative bits and pieces, picture frames, plant holders, old linens,
colourful Colombian terracotta figures and much, much more.
Remember there are
three golden rules for Porta Portese – dress comfortably, go early and keep
your money safely stashed away for Porta Portese is also pick-pockets’
paradise.
