I arrived in Rome on the overnight flight, landing early in the morning. I escaped the airport quickly, and after a record-breaking taxi ride, I walked into the lobby of my hotel around 9:30 a.m. When the gentleman behind the desk explained to me that I couldn’t get into my room until 1 p.m., I just smiled – little did he realize, I was only there to drop off my bags. As always, I prepared beforehand and knew exactly where I wanted to go first: Porta Portese.
I happened upon the mention of the area – an enormous flea market to the south of the Trasevere area – in the “Shopping Rome” section of my tourist guide. I’ve had an affinity for flea markets for years, and there was no way I was going to miss this one. The market was enormous and stretched on for what seemed like forever. I walked nearly the entire market, which took a little over two hours.
Like most flea markets, the goods range from trash to treasure, running the gamut from hand-crafted leather bags and jackets to so-so costume jewelry and beautiful scarves and mounds of clothing that locals and tourists alike bend over to pick through. I kid you not, they even had fur coats. I made the mistake of lingering too long at one of the tents with leather bags, and after some mild haggling (I was still waking up), I walked away with my first purchase: a reversible leather tote, black on one side and royal blue on the other, to be rotated based on my mood or wardrobe. And for the ultimate gift-with-purchase, it came with a smaller purse nestled within that would prove to be a good souvenir gift for my 16-year-old daughter.
I meandered for the next couple of hours, picking up things here and there that would serve as gifts. Of course, as I wandered the seemingly endless market, I came upon many booths selling the same bag (fortunately, in different color combinations), except these were 10 to 15 euros less than I paid – aggravating, as I’ve done enough fleas to know you shouldn’t ever buy at the booths near an entrance; they’re always the highest priced.
After having soaked in some of the finer cultural aspects of Rome, I spent most of the next day walking around the various neighborhoods and wandering in and out of shops. To my delight, I stumbled upon the open market in Campo de Fiori late in the morning and marveled at the beautiful displays of fresh local fruits, vegetables, dried pastas, olive oils, and the like. It made me sad that I couldn’t buy the amazing-looking artichokes, or the yellow-flower-topped zucchinis, but the smells and the sights were delightful enough.
Small street vendors had tables set up on the outskirts of the market, and there I found some hand-crafted aluminum jewelry. I came across several of these small artist outposts during the course of the day. But my greatest shopping discoveries were later in the day, as I encountered some shops that dually functioned as stores and live maker spaces.
The first one I entered was called Il Gancio – the smell of leather pulled me in through its open doorway. It had many small bags, belts, and leather accessories within, but this was differentiated from its flea-market cousins by the artisanal quality of the product design and assembly. A large work table stood off to the side, with a work room in the back. The shop-keeper quickly engaged me, and although I spoke no Italian, and she spoke no English, we managed to get through the custom belt sizing and another gift purchase for my daughter. Made by a woman I had just met, and tailored to perfection as I watched, I was happy with my assuredly unique purchases.
I continued walking down Via Del Seminario until I happened upon a small tailor shop with dress furnishings in the window called “La Cravatta su Misura.” I had been on a quest since the beginning of this trip to find just the right tie as a gift for my boyfriend, but finding an extra-long tie (he’s six-foot, five-inches tall) in green had proven tantamount to finding the Holy Grail. I was of the mindset that both should be possible to find, given the city I was in. By this day in my shopping endeavors, however, this had become a full-blown mission, so into the shop I went.
Again, I encountered language issues, but with some creative usage of French, Spanish and Google, the shop keeper and I managed to select fabric for a custom green, extra-long tie, which she would make in the loft workspace just above the sales area and have ready for pick-up the next day.
Mission accomplished.
Upon reflection, the success of my Roman shopping adventure was two-fold. At the Porta Portese, I had ample opportunity to search and discover small treasures among the piles of trash – the satisfaction that only true bargain-hunting can bring. In my neighborhood wanderings, my discoveries were places instead of products, and these wonderful artisan shops were home to bespoke products – far from what I could find at home.
My final takeaway was that retailers must aspire to drive customer traffic again and again by imbuing their stores with sprinklings of what, specifically, makes them unique – both in their product offerings and, more importantly, in the experience.
Kathleen Jordan, AIA, CID, LEED AP, is a principal in Gensler’s New York office, and a leader of its retail practice with over 24 years of experience across the United States and internationally. Jordan has led a broad range of retail design projects as both an outside consultant and as an in-house designer. She has led projects from merchandising and design development all the way through construction documentation and administration, and many of her projects have earned national and international design awards. Contact her at kathleen_jordan@gensler.com.