Shopping in Rome: Be Prepared to Pay More

If you are on a shopping spree in the ancient city of Rome, you are not going to get any big deal particularly if you are a US citizen. You will miss all the big fashion stores like those you find in Paris or Milan. Rome is, rather, a favorite place for many tourists. The prices in Rome match those in high end showrooms in USA, but the weak dollar mark and the rate of exchange, Dollar to Euro, may lead you to pay almost double the price in US.

It is better to walk around the many famous high fashion designer stores like Gucci, Prada and Ferragamo near the Spanish Steps or go to many stores like Versace and Moschin Via Bocca di Leone. You may find some low priced stuff in some shops like Zara if you go Via del Corso. You may walk across Via Nazionale, where you can find different types of shops such as Max Mara, which have some realistic price tags.

You can get marvelous view of Rome when you visit Hotel Eden in Via Veneto district. Here, you will get some expensive shops where you may feel the price to be a bit reasonable. This is a small place and you can walk around to explore the area. You can go to any designer outlet mall on a tour arranged by any of the hotels located here. McArthurGlen is a famous designer outlet situated in Castel Romano. There are around one hundred shops including Etro andRossetti.

Italy is famous for its leather goods. You will find large quantity of leather products all around, in Glove emporiums lines and many other shops in streets and side lanes. The goods are very expensive here.

If you really want to make a beneficial deal in superior leather goods, catch a fast train to Florence - the paradise of leather items. You should book your return ticket for train earlier; otherwise you may not get the train to return. Here you can find elegant leather apparels of sheep skin and other beautiful items at low prices.

It is inexpensive to travel around the city in metro. Always keep some change with you for a ticketing machine. Keep your wallet and possessions secure. Be careful about gypsies, who will like to extract money on some or the other plea. You should firmly. Refuse them to give any money.

Shopping Hours in Italy: Shops here do not observe any fixed or uniform working hours. You should be particularly careful about those small dress shops in outer lanes about the timings. Many shops close for about two hours during lunch break and they put"Chiuso per Ferie" signs outside. The month of August is not the right time to visit as it is tyrannically hot in Rome. You can use customary Roman words to greet the people in the morning and in evening.

Refund of Taxes: The American citizens can draw refund of Value Added Tax while shopping in Italy or anywhere in EU, if they have spent over 155 euro in a store. The shops will provide you with the relevant papers which you can present at a Global Refund Office at any airport while leaving Italy. The store may ask for your passport to fill the particular form. Most of the sores display "Global Refund "or "Europe Tax Free" signs. While other stores, which do not put a sign, will also do the needful to provide you the papers to claim refund.

You are now aware about shopping in Rome and you can shop there happily!