Historic and antiques markets off the tourist trail
A guide to Italy's least touristy historic and antiques markets, from Turin to Palermo, with real dates and corners of each city to pair them with.
Anyone hunting for little-known historic and antiques markets in Italy usually ends up going round in circles among the same two or three big-name fairs. Yet almost every city has its own monthly appointment made of copperware stalls, old postcards, house-clearance furniture and dusty books: real, free events, on a fixed schedule you can pencil into your diary. Here we gather a dozen of them, chosen for the quality of the goods and for the urban setting around them. Because a market is also worth what lies just around the corner: for every stop we point out a place to pair with it a few steps away.
In northern Italy
We start in Turin with the **Gran Balon**, the "big" edition of the Balon in Borgo Dora, held on the second Sunday of every month (the ordinary Balon flea market is on Saturdays instead). It's the realm of junk dealers and genuine mid-century pieces, with prices still open to haggling. Once you've done the rounds, just head back up towards the centre to look for the Cavallerizza Reale, the forgotten Savoy courtyard a stone's throw from the Po.
In Milan the date to remember is the **Mercatone dell'Antiquariato on the Naviglio Grande**, the last Sunday of the month: nearly two kilometres of carefully selected stalls along the Alzaia, from silverware to vinyl. Before the crowds arrive, slip into the Vicolo dei Lavandai, the old washhouse that tells the story of the watery Milan from which the Navigli themselves were born.
Bologna has one of the most scenic and least touristy markets: the **Mercato Antiquario Città di Bologna**, on the second Saturday and second Sunday of the month (except July and August), in Piazza Santo Stefano. Around a hundred exhibitors fill the open space in front of the basilica, which is in fact the complex of the Seven Churches: the silent cloister is the perfect break between one stall and the next.
In the Veneto, Padua's **Antiquariato in Prato** brings the Prato della Valle to life on the third Sunday of the month, on the largest square-island in Italy. A few minutes away is one of the most surprising interiors in this university city: the marble staircase of the Bo, the heart of the ancient university.
Aosta and Sant'Orso
Aosta deserves a trip of its own for a single, unrepeatable event: the **Fiera di Sant'Orso**, on 30 and 31 January, more than a thousand artisans filling the streets of the centre with wooden sculptures, soapstone, drap from Valgrisenche and the famous sabots. It isn't antiques in the strict sense, but it is the oldest craft fair in the Alps, complete with the nocturnal "Veillà" between the two days. It takes its name from the collegiate church of Sant'Orso, whose Romanesque cloister remains one of the most beautiful and least sought-out corners of the city.
Rome and Florence
Rome offers more than one alternative to Porta Portese. The **Ponte Milvio market**, along the Tiber every first Sunday of the month (and the preceding Saturday), is a realm of furniture, jewellery and vintage linen in an area few tourists reach. The capital is the ideal city for stitching a market together with hidden corners: the fairytale Coppedè Quarter, the Passetto del Biscione with its "miraculous" fresco, the medieval loggia of the Casa dei Cavalieri di Rodi overlooking the Forums.
In Florence the **Flea Market**, a historic institution of Piazza dei Ciompi now relocated to Largo Annigoni, is open every day: lamps, prints, second-hand books and period furnishings in front of the Sant'Ambrogio market. From here you can walk to the Chiostro dello Scalzo, frescoed in monochrome by Andrea del Sarto, and the quiet Giardino dei Semplici, the Medici botanical garden.
Heading south
Going down to Naples, the **Fiera Antiquaria Napoletana** in the Villa Comunale and the daily Antignano market in the Vomero are good starting points for local collecting. Then it's worth losing yourself in the belly of the city: the theatrical hawk's-wing staircases of the Rione Sanità and the contrast told by the courtyard of the statues and the Quartieri Spagnoli.
We close in Sicily. In Palermo the **Flea Market** of Piazza Domenico Peranni, amid wrought iron, ceramics and salvaged furniture, is a stop quite different from the food markets of Ballarò and the Vucciria; a short distance away, San Giovanni degli Eremiti offers up its red domes and an Arab-Norman cloister.
For the most passionate there remain the great classics to factor in without crowding the usual destinations: the **Fiera Antiquaria di Arezzo**, running since 1968 on the first weekend of the month in Piazza Grande, and the **Mercato Antiquario di Lucca**, the third weekend inside the walls. One rule holds for all: arrive early, haggle politely and, above all, always check the dates on official channels, because bad weather and public holidays can shift even the most well-established appointments.
Practical guides for Arezzo
Practical info
When is the best time to visit Historic and antiques markets off the tourist trail?
The recommended time is April, May, June, September and October, when it is less crowded.
Where is Historic and antiques markets off the tourist trail?
Historic and antiques markets off the tourist trail is located in Italy.
