Needing My Annual Italian

Thank you Judith Works for this wonderful purse story - (see more about Judith at the end of the blog)

Needing my annual Italian "fix" my husband and I planned a two-week trip in September. Not wanting to be left out, our daughter and son-in-law decided to join us. We flew into Milan for four days of fun with friends from Spain and Hungary who shared our fashion envy (Fashion Week was about to start), then another four days in a country hotel - actually an old castle and lovely new cottages set in an olive grove.

 

But, as always, my real destination was Rome, my heart's home. We always stay in a small hotel on the Aventine Hill, one of Rome's famous seven, near an area called Testaccio. Again, we met friends, some by plan and even some by chance. Near the end of our stay, we decided to walk to the new Testaccio Market. The old one, taking up a full block, was always full of shoppers buying fresh seafood, meat, cheese, veggies, fruit, and since it is Italy, shoes and handbags. All in all it was the perfect shopping experience with food for body and soul.

 

A couple of years ago the authorities in their wisdom decided to move the colorful market to a new and more sanitary location, one with underground parking - not common in  Rome because every time you stick a shovel in the ground you hit antiquities. The new market was about ten blocks from our hotel and not far from the famous Monte Testaccio, a 165-foot high, half-mile around pile of potshards, broken amphorae from the ancient Roman port. The amphorae were used to transport grain and oils from the Empire, and when they were emptied they were tossed in this gigantic heap for us to marvel at.

 

The market itself was also a marvel - the first thing we saw was a sushi bar - the last thing we would have expected in a traditional market. Nothing else about the design was very traditional either. Light, airy, stalls spread out - it looked sterile. Some stalls were even glassed in, making them into shops. But, oh joy - there were shoes, handbags, and clothing waiting for me. It didn't take long to succumb to a pair of loafers and a leather jacket. We needed to hurry along but I straggled behind looking for something else to remember the trip by. And there they were: a show window filled with handbags you couldn't find anywhere else. I walked in to check out the selection - all handbags with 1950s Italian magazines encased in a plastic cover - irresistible. Nothing like the wonderful leather creations, the symbol of Italian craftsmanship, but something fun, something truly original to remember the trip.

 

 

The shop is called "I Bottega I" The owner told us he made the bags all by hand and scoured flea markets to find suitable magazines. Mine shows women modeling Dior's "The New Look" from the late 1940s early1950s along with ads for Cutex nail polish, a remedy for children's stomach disorders and wood floor polish.   

 

 

 

 

 

As I was digging out my credit card my husband remarked to the owner that the market was overly cleaned up, he responded, “Oh, don’t worry – it will just take a couple of years and we will look just like the old market. This is Italy.”

 

Judith Works, a graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School, is retired from the United Nations, Rome, Italy. She is the author of a memoir about Rome, Coins in the Fountain, available as an e-book, writes travel articles for on-line publications as well as blogging her adventures. She is currently President of the Friends of the Edmonds Library, on the steering committee for Write on the Sound, and on the board for Edmonds Center for the Arts and EPIC Group Writers.

https://www.amazon.com/author/coinsinthefountain