The Mercatos of Roma

This past weekend was the first one in quite a while that I’ve had free time to explore Rome. My friends and I have had the opportunity to experience cities all over Europe, but hardly anytime to explore the city we’ve been calling home. And these new explorations had me falling in love with Rome all over again. Now our last month and half will be dedicated to Roman explorations–we started off well this week by visiting 2 popular mercatos (markets) of Rome.

Without any classes on Friday, a friend and I made use of our morning and visited the Mercato Trionfale. This indoor market feels almost like a shopping mall due to its size–as it is the largest market in Rome, but the stalls filled with an array of produce, meats, cheeses, baked goods, spices, and various odds and ends tell you otherwise. Our visit was mostly just to browse, but we ended up buying a few things. My favorite purchase was the box of fresh strawberries I bought for 1 Euro and 50 cents. Although the bombas (filled doughnuts, one cream and one chocolate) I had made for tough competition.

We browsed in mostly the bakery and produce aisles, but the market had plenty of butcheries as well as a seafood section. We also stumbled across a party supply store, pet store, a few clothing stores, and a flower shop. Needless to say, nearly anything you need could be found at the Mercato Trionfale–I think it’d be a great spot to grab a picnic before you continue wandering around the Eternal City.

On a whim Saturday afternoon we visited our 2nd mercato of the weekend in Campo de Fiori. This traditional outdoor market is open daily and is one I will likely be making another visit too. I found the atmosphere in this market to be much more “Roman” or at least more along the lines of what I would imagine a Roman market to consist of. The vendors’ tents filled the piazza with a wide range of goods including Italian leather, kitchen utensils, produce, flowers, and piles of pasta. This market has the potential to supply me with several souvenirs to bring home to friends and family.

These mercatos sold many of the same items, but both offer a very different atmosphere. I may prefer Campo’s mercato to Trionfale’s, but those bombas may bring me back to Trionfale anyway.