Shopping in Rome
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Antica Caciara Trasteverina
The fresh ricotta is a prized possession at this century-old deli, and usually snapped up by lunch. If you're too late, take solace in other creamy specialities such as burrata pugliese (a creamy cheese from the Puglia region), or simply drool over the fragrant hams, bread, baccalà (salted cod), cheeses, peppers, Sicilian anchovies and local wines.
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Bookàbar
In Firouz Galdo–designed, cool, gleaming white rooms, Bookàbar – the bookshop attached to Palazzo delle Esposizioni – is just made for browsing. There are books on art, architecture and photography, DVDs, CDs, vinyl, children’s books, and gifts for the design-lover in your life.
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Baullà
Baullà sells classic women's clothes and some accessories - all understated, informal chic of exceptional quality. Expect beautiful knitwear, linen jackets, jewel-bright chenille scarves and a selection of original bags and shoes.
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Fabriano
Fabriano makes stationery sexy, with deeply desirable diaries, funky notebooks and products embossed with street maps of Rome. Enlightened extras include quirky paper jewellery by local designers and stylish paper-thin wallets.
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AGAU
Brightly coloured precious and semiprecious stones from India are used by Italian designers to form the dazzling modern jewellery at this reasonably priced shop. There's another branch at Via della Vite 57 (06 693 80 699).
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Angelo di Nepi (Via Cola di Rienzo 267)
Roman designer Nepi adores rich colour, and combines Italian cut and style with rich Indian fabrics: sumptuous reds, shocking pinks, intricate embroidery and heavy silk to make you as pretty as a peacock.
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Luisella Mariotti
With semiprecious stones, crystals, glass and nickel-free metals, Luisella Mariotti creates spidery, out-of-this-world jewellery. Original pieces at reasonable prices abound in her backstreet shop.
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Ibiz – Artigianato in Cuoio
In this pint-sized workshop, Elisa Nepi and her father craft exquisite, well-priced leather goods, including bags, belts and sandals, in simple but classy designs and myriad colours.
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Fausto Santini (Via Cavour 106)
For bargains and previous seasons’ designs, check out this Fausto Santini outlet store at Via Cavour 106, near the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore.
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Bassetti Tessuti
Hidden away in a run-of-the-mill palazzo (palace), Bassetti Tessuti is a sprawling, technicolour temple to textiles. From fine Italian wools and silks, to cheetah-print faux fur, a jaw-dropping 200,000 fabrics line its endless sea of soaring, cracked rooms. Brothers Emidio and Lorenzo Bassetti set up shop in 1954, serving everyone from couture royalty to needle-savvy homemakers.
It's a fabulously atmospheric place, caught in a retro time warp of linoleum floors and wizened old men pushing cart after cart of rare and luscious threads.
reviewed
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TAD
TAD is a cutting-edge conceptual department store that sells an entire lifestyle. Here you can buy designer clothes by Chloë, Balenciaga and more, have a haircut, buy scent and flowers, and furnish your apartment with wooden daybeds and Perspex dining chairs. Don’t forget to pick up hip soundtracks to your perfect life from the CD rack. The serene courtyard café is the perfect ladies-who-lunch pitstop, offering appropriately stylish Italian-Asian morsels.
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Società Abbigliamento Rappresentanze Tessuti (SART)
In a gentleman’s quest for sartorial splendour, when only the finest Italian cloth will do, the address to know is SART, hidden away off the courtyard of a grand palazzo that also houses Rome’s venerable hunting club. Walk through the porter’s office and you’ll find the entrance to the right of the courtyard. There are rolls of lavish wools, linens and cottons, and you can pick up cashmere jumpers to complete your look.
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Louis Vuitton
Forget handbags. The star turn at Rome's latest Louis Vuitton store is a show-stopping, plasma-screen staircase. Based on a concept by New York-based architect Peter Marino (and looking like it's straight off a Madonna concert set),this visual tour de force transforms itself from psychedelic snake to technicolour torrent in seconds. For the full effect, head in after hours when the stairs are free of clutter and at their hi-tech best.
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Città del Sole
Città del Sole is a parent’s dream, a treasure-trove of imaginative toys created to stretch the growing mind rather than numb it. From well-crafted wooden trains to insect investigation kits, here you’ll find toys to (with any luck) keep your children occupied for hours. Other branches are at Via Buonarroti 6, near Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II, and at Piazza San Cosimato 39 in Trastevere.
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Confetteria Moriondo & Gariglio
Roman poet Trilussa dedicated several sonnets to this shop, and you can see why. It’s no ordinary sweetshop, but a bygone temple of bonbons. Rows of handmade chocolates and sweets (more than 80 varieties) lie in ceremonial splendour in old-fashioned glass cabinets. Moriondo and Gariglio were Torinese cousins who moved to Rome after the unification of Italy, and many of the chocolates are handmade to their original recipes.
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Valentino
The watchword for old-school glamour and elegance. Valentino himself might have retired but the label still carries on his dedication to beautifully cut, red, white and black, red carpet–ready outfits. Men head to Bocca di Leone 16. tebro An old-style department store that has kept wealthy locals in linen, socks, ties, swimwear and underwear for over 140 years. You can even have sheets made to measure for your yacht.
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Bomba
Discerning Romans worship Cristina Bomba's sartorial creations. Here they're mixed with Metradamo and Liviana Conti gowns, Nafi De Luca millinery, Donatella Pellini jewellery and idiosyncratic footwear from Fiorentini & Baker. There's a small selection of modish ties and shoes for men, while bespoke fans can book a Monday appointment with the in-house tailor (a basic dress or suit takes about a week to complete).
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Suzuganaru
Suzuganaru’s men’s and women’s boutiques sit side by side, selling whimsical, individual clothes that you won’t find anywhere else. Photographer-designer Marcella Manfredini makes some of the women’s clothes in the shop, and there are dresses in unusual prints and accessories such as bright lacquer bangles. Next door the men’s clothes are lower key but equally hip.
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Lorenza Ambrosetti
This unprepossessing little shop, just along the street from MACRO, harbours wonderful wares. Senora Ambrosetti sells tiles created from ancient and historic designs, from 15th-century Spanish to 1970s Sicilian and more. The tiles are still made by artisans. The polished, almost leather-like terracotta flooring at the Galleria Doria Pamphilj came from here. The average cost is around €70 per sq m.
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Artigiani Pellettieri – Marco Pelle/di Clemente
Ring the bell at this unassuming doorway and hurry up flights of stairs to a family-run leather workshop that feels like it hasn’t changed for decades. The elderly artisans create belts (€70 to €100), watch straps (€40 to €90), bags, picture frames, travel cases, and other such elegant stuff. You can take along a buckle or watch to which you want a belt or strap fitted.
reviewed
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L’Olfattorio
Those with a nose will adore this place. It’s like a bar, but with perfume instead of drinks, with scents made by names such as Artisan Parfumeur, Diptyque, Les Parfums de Rosine and Coudray. The bartender will guide you through different combinations of scents to work out your ideal fragrance. Exclusive handmade French perfumes are available to buy. Smellings are free but you should book ahead.
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Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella
Step in for the scent of the place, if nothing else. This bewitching shop – the catchily named Roman branch of one of Italy’s oldest pharmacies – sells exquisite lotions and potions under a Murano-glass chandelier. It was founded in Florence in 1612 by the Dominican monks of Santa Maria Novella, and many of its cosmetics are based on original 17th-century herbal recipes.
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Salvatore Ferragamo
Star shoemaker Salvatore shod Hollywood stars in the ‘20s before setting up shop in Italy in the ‘30s, and creating both the Roman sandal and the wedge heel. This is where to look if you’re after perfect-fit classics in unconventional materials, as well as fabulously glamorous clothing (beautifully cut men’s suits are just along the road at number 66).
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My Cup of Tea
In a hard-to-find converted artist's studio (walk through the main entrance and ring the bell at the courtyard door), this self-dubbed 'creative incubator' showcases the work of emerging artists and fashion designers (with an emphasis on women's and children's fashion). Past stock includes felt jewellery from Italo-Brit Biondo, and kitschy celebrity portraits by Daniele Cima.
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Mario Pelle
Ring the bell at this unassuming doorway and hurry up flights of stairs to a family-run leather workshop that feels like it hasn’t changed for decades. The elderly artisans create belts (€70 to €100), watch straps (€40 to €90), bags, picture frames, travel cases and other such elegant stuff. You can take along a buckle or watch to which you want a belt or strap fitted.
reviewed
