Shopping in Trastevere
Finding just the right gift to take home for someone can be as much fun for the giver as for the recipient. These Trastevere shops, located across the Tiber from the city center, all provide unique and useful gift ideas. You will find here one-of-a-kind places with their own singular ambiance. Sometimes hard to spot, tucked away in corners and having non-descript doorways, it isn't always obvious what treasures are hidden inside.
Ceramica D'Arte:
Weaving a basket or shaping clay has never looked easy, but Lavinia Santi combines both and makes it appear effortless. She has been perfecting her style for 25 years to create original pottery baskets, plates, bowls, jewelry and even lamps complete with electrical fittings. Prices run from Euro5 to 1,300, it's in Via S. Dorotea 21.
Weaving a basket or shaping clay has never looked easy, but Lavinia Santi combines both and makes it appear effortless. She has been perfecting her style for 25 years to create original pottery baskets, plates, bowls, jewelry and even lamps complete with electrical fittings. Prices run from Euro5 to 1,300, it's in Via S. Dorotea 21.
GraphicArt Bazaar:
Young, hip Veronica Di Giovane and Riccardo Giove, owners of this six-year-old shop, create whimsical designer stationery, photo albums, diaries, picture frames and more using only natural products. Each item could qualify as a work of art, but without demanding auction-house prices. Expect to pay from Euro 8 to 95. Vicolo del Cinque 30/b.
Ferrara:
"Upscale" best describes this gourmet food/wine shop and restaurant. A gift-boxed, 100-year-old bottle of balsamic vinegar will set you back about Euro270. For the rest of us there are reasonably priced Italian specialties including capers, olives, pesto and tomato sauces. Apricots, pears and clementines packaged in glass jars are almost too pretty to eat. If your aim is to impress, this is the place. Prices range from Euro 0.70 for a chocolate to 900 for a rare bottle of wine, it is in Via del Moro 1/a - Piazza Trilussa 41.
"Upscale" best describes this gourmet food/wine shop and restaurant. A gift-boxed, 100-year-old bottle of balsamic vinegar will set you back about Euro270. For the rest of us there are reasonably priced Italian specialties including capers, olives, pesto and tomato sauces. Apricots, pears and clementines packaged in glass jars are almost too pretty to eat. If your aim is to impress, this is the place. Prices range from Euro 0.70 for a chocolate to 900 for a rare bottle of wine, it is in Via del Moro 1/a - Piazza Trilussa 41.
Polvere di Tempo:
Interesting items at this time-themed shop include handcrafted hourglasses, sundials, globes and kaleidoscopes. The owner, architect and craftsman Adrian Rodriquez, explained how candles marked with numbers were used by monks in the evening to note the passage of time. The tapers, priced at Euro 10, are attractively wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine. Prices range from Euro 8 to 630, you find it at Via del Moro 59.
Interesting items at this time-themed shop include handcrafted hourglasses, sundials, globes and kaleidoscopes. The owner, architect and craftsman Adrian Rodriquez, explained how candles marked with numbers were used by monks in the evening to note the passage of time. The tapers, priced at Euro 10, are attractively wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine. Prices range from Euro 8 to 630, you find it at Via del Moro 59.
The Almost Corner Bookshop:
This English-language bookstore carries all types of books and an especially good selection of history and fiction. Owner, Dermot O'Connell from Kilkenny, Ireland, invites you to browse among the latest bestsellers in the shop's larger, brighter space, two doors down from its old premises. His focus for the shop is to maintain its interesting and unusual reputation and to obtain anything a customer requests. Special orders usually take about three weeks, sometimes less. Regarding prices, O'Connell says: "We have books for every pocket." Via del Moro 45.
This English-language bookstore carries all types of books and an especially good selection of history and fiction. Owner, Dermot O'Connell from Kilkenny, Ireland, invites you to browse among the latest bestsellers in the shop's larger, brighter space, two doors down from its old premises. His focus for the shop is to maintain its interesting and unusual reputation and to obtain anything a customer requests. Special orders usually take about three weeks, sometimes less. Regarding prices, O'Connell says: "We have books for every pocket." Via del Moro 45.
Valzani:
As you wind your way up Via del Moro, the window display at Valzani will stop you in your tracks. Rich chocolate cakes, sacher torte and typical Roman favorites like pangiallo (what fruitcake should taste like) and panpepato (made with honey, chocolate and pepper) tempt even
the most determined dieter. In business since 1925, the Valzani family has built up quite a following. Virginia Valzani says that their customers come not only from all over Rome but from around the world. Glossy red gift boxes filled with their handmade sweets are priced from Euro 7 to 20. Via del Moro 37a/b
As you wind your way up Via del Moro, the window display at Valzani will stop you in your tracks. Rich chocolate cakes, sacher torte and typical Roman favorites like pangiallo (what fruitcake should taste like) and panpepato (made with honey, chocolate and pepper) tempt even
the most determined dieter. In business since 1925, the Valzani family has built up quite a following. Virginia Valzani says that their customers come not only from all over Rome but from around the world. Glossy red gift boxes filled with their handmade sweets are priced from Euro 7 to 20. Via del Moro 37a/b