After a brisk tour of Villa Borghese, Rome’s second-largest public park, we hit the streets for a touch of shopping. We discovered gray-painted antique wooden stalls in a lot, manned by friendly vendors selling old and antique books, prints and postcards at reasonable prices. It was exactly what I thought the Porta Portese flea market would be and I wish I would have written in my notes where these vendors were located.
If you are a lady in search of funky-fresh stylings from yesterday and today, you must hit Via del Governo Vecchio near the Piazza Navona. Mixed in with pricey antique dealers are snug little joints that smell pleasantly of thriftshop must, stale cigarette smoke and bargains. Dana snagged a retro black skirt in a flower print at a place called Cinzia Vestiti Usati, which boasted old records, eyeglasses and shades, boots, leather jackets and other stuff. Dana located but passed on a pair of billowly purple silk pants that I imagine Carly Simon donated in the late ‘70s.