2nd posting March 4, 2019 Porta Portese Market

Dear Family, Friends and Readers,

We hope you all are well, despite what we continue to read about the weather in the American Midwest (and elsewhere). 

Below are two maps of part of Rome, with the area of the Porta Portese market shown in a curved red line.

Perhaps when the weather warms up further, the market will extend to the old gate in the city walls from which it takes its name. 

detail map of lower right corner of first map

At its full extent, the market can cover over 3/4 of a mile. This week it was closer to a half mile long, and along most of its length there are four rows of vendors squeezed tightly to each other. 

The market sprang up immediately 

after World War II, when the Italian economy was at an utter standstill and people needed a variety of items at low prices. 

This view of a small bit of the market may convey how crowded it can become with vendors' stalls and tens of thousands of visitors, shoppers, strollers, and, alas, throngs of expert pickpockets who take advantage of the tightly packed crowds.

I didn't toddle out of our apartment adjacent to the market until about 1 p.m., when the crowd was already thinning. Although I live in a big city, I do have an aversion to tightly packed crowds.

Until about three weeks ago, any Roman matron who had one was wearing her fur coat. 

Now the weather has become spring-like 

there are many warm coats for sale.

This stall owner has an older relation whose job it is to hold up a mirror for customers. The fashionista below took her time looking over the offerings. 

Many of the stalls have their wares jumbled about, especially after a few hours of potential customers' rummaging. The worst looking stalls of very jumbled clothing brings to mind a potential origin for the term "flea market". Many items of used clothing have been harvested from garbage dumpsters, good for recycling but leaving doubts about their cleanliness.

The book sellers and vendors of antique prints often start packing up around 1 p.m., so I missed a chance to look over much of their wares. The books are generally in Italian, some are scholarly, such as a hefty two volume set whose title translates as "Economic and Diplomatic Causes of the Great War", written before 1940. 

The stalls are tightly packed in narrow rows, designed to be just wide enough for vendor's narrow vans to very slowly leave the market early. People had to scramble to find an open spot to move aside.

There are a dozen or so vendors of varying types of housewares, gadgets and linens. I was a bit disappointed to see the very same nice fry pan 

I bought last week at a housewares shop 

for 22 euros (a reasonable price) 

on sale in the market for 10 euros.

There are also many vendors of perfumes (or at least fancy bottles with colored liquid) or cosmetics and "beauty accessories". I even spotted one vendor of zippers, thread, laces and other sewing notions.

Three euros (about $3.40 USD) was a standard price at many stalls, others specialized in one euro bargains. 

I did not look closely enough to see how many wine and pasta sauce spots there were on these cheapies.

Many vendors make an effort to display their wares cleanly and neatly. Over the years, I have noticed the transport and storage boxes that the vendors use, tucked away under the stalls. On occasion I've seen boxes imprinted with the names of international charities. Perhaps their "overflow" ends up in these types of markets?

Sun glasses and cell phone covers were among the most frequent offerings. 

The large number of not always older model cell phones on offer at other stalls with vendors giving out very hostile glares meant NO photos and certainly NO questions about where the phones came from. 





Ever wonder what happens to all those device chargers that are accidentally left behind somewhere? These may be such. There is a cottage industry of the unemployed who spent hours ever day poking through the large curbside garbage dumpsters on most city blocks, looking for things to resell, so some may come from such sources. Obviously, "you get what you pay for" so some of these 1 euro cheapies may not be useable except as string.

Nearly twenty years ago, the stall vendors were often old-time Italians, many of whom had distinctive cries in the Roman dialects about the superiority of their wares. A few vendors still try to attract attention with loud announcements, in what sounds more like Arabic than "Romanesco".

There were a couple of vendors with interesting pieces from Africa. An associate of this vendor dived behind the merchandise when he saw my camera. The standing fellow wasn't interested in chatting in Italian about the objects' origin. Unlike many of the other products in the market, these are highly unlikely to have come from China. Many of the vendors have dubious immigration status, and many offer no receipt, which infuriates the ubiquitous Italian tax-police, so it is understandable that many are camera-shy.

Bric-a-brac might be a general term for the variety of offerings, including minor religious articles, "antique" electronics, and tchotchkes. 

A special treat, old 45 rpm records, here the top one is "Rock Your Baby", one that predates my limited knowledge of the genre.

These small suitcases are more likely to be genuine Louis Vuitton pieces than what the plethora of sidewalk vendors hawk at all the major tourist sites. 




Among the brass pieces was a small menorah. Further along the paths, I did spot one vendor with small Shivas, Ganeshas, and smiling Buddhas. 

Here's a wise vendor whose wares are ready to be carted away for another week at the market.

 

A couple of vendors were offering military gear and medals.

 This vendor specialized in military and Communist party memorabilia from Eastern Europe did not like it when he noticed a photographer.

 One point about half way through the market is a slightly larger open area where sellers of small furniture, silver and better porcelains traditionally set up. Their trucks are larger than the usual narrow vans. 

No, I didn't spot anything that remotely looked like a neglected Rembrandt in the piles of paintings on display. This was one of the better ones. 

You could buy any number of picture frames, 

for more than a couple of euros, 

but probably close to their actual value.

 This photo is from earlier in a day last year, and gives an impression of the tightness of the crowd. 

I did buy a few things, a ball point pen that worked, a no-slip bath rug for 5 euros, and a couple of other small items.

 Here's a slightly longer view of 1/4 of the market's length. There are often small groups of LOUD musicians playing (or lip synching) contemporary music, sometimes a little too closely to each other, so the result is an unfortunate mismatch of rock and jazz.

There are a few food vendors at the far end of the market offering water, juices, small sandwiches, pastries, etc.

After the market is over (perhaps 3 p.m., earlier if it is cold or there is a threat of rain), the streets are eerily empty. A phalanx of street cleaners, with brooms, noisy leaf-blowers, and full sized garbage trucks descend on the area and in about an hour all the debris is removed. WHERE all the residents of this tightly packed area park their cars during the market remains a mystery. A few of my neighbors here have either shrugged off questions about that or hinted that available parking spaces on Sundays are a tightly guarded secret.

For much better pictures of the different types of merchandise, see

https://www.romeartlover.it/Portese.html

I hope to post again soon. 

WARM wishes to you all, Carol

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