Rome - Ponte Milvio Antique Market - by Jill

If you're fortunate to be in Rome on the first Sunday of the month, this antique market is a wonderful place to stroll for a few hours, of course you'll only have room for the smaller items in your suitcase, but there's plenty of interesting small objects there - like small picture frames, jewlery, nick nacks, books etc... Today I found a brand new guide book for Italy from 1955 which was a freebie on TWA flights, what a wonderful find - at a quick glance I can't say that recommendations have change much, including restaurants, I also found two small Limoges butter dishes that are quite magnificent, these I could have easily slipped in with my luggage if I was traveling.We were at the market in search of an odd sized antique dining table for our kitchen, which had eluded us until today...


we ve been searching this table for around a year, but today was our day and we in fact found many different versions of the table we were after and finally did the deal to be delivered next week. You will come across the Lemonade and chou chou stand as well, locals line up for a freshly squeezed lemon juice with sugar and either mint, fresh ginger or natural flavor, the couple that run this stand take their product very seriously and use old fashioned methods to create their juice as they say it tastes better this way, and it does. In winter they replace the cold lemonade with a spicy hot apple cider drink.

They also make chou chou with both peanuts and almonds on the spot, so they're always fresh and hot.
Some of the other great finds are these bolts of heavy furnishing fabrics, handmade fabric lamp shades, handmade elaborate velvet cushions and some interesting deco pieces.



There are also a few Asian antique stalls, Tibetan and Chinese that are very well priced in comparison to the stores. Ponte Milvio Antique Market is on the first Sunday of each month only and runs along the Tiber River at Ponte Milvio which is a couple of klm north of the Vatican and about a 7 Euro cab ride or about a 40 minute walk from the centre.

Rome - Lovers Bridge - Jill

If you're in Rome with your husband, lover, or even your best friend - go to the lovers bridge, Ponte Milvio - one of Romes older bridges that spans the Tiber River near the football stadium. Roman lovers and bosom buddies buy a simple lock, write on their names, eg: Dario and Marzia then lock it up to the chain and throw the key into the river to symbolize their friendship for life. The chain seems to be just about full and another has begun on the other side of the bridge.