The Best Place To Go When Looking For A Walmart Alternative In Rome

Shopping on vacation in Italy might mean browsing souvenir stores for local gifts or finding trendy yet affordable clothing shops in Rome. But sometimes you just need an everything-under-one-roof type of place for practical items like bottle openers or luggage tags. Enter the casalinghi.

In Rome and elsewhere in Italy, a casalinghi (home goods) store is the perfect place to stock up on everyday items without breaking the bank. Think of it as the Italian version of Walmart. However, when shopping in the center of Rome, you shouldn't expect to find a mega-sized retailer with dozens of carefully organized aisles. Instead, casalinghi shops can sometimes be a little chaotic, with products crammed into rows from the floor to the ceiling. This is how you can find anything you may need during your trip, even if the shop itself is squeezed into a relatively small space in the middle of the city. Most neighborhoods in Rome have at least one casalinghi shop, so all you have to do is search Google Maps or another travel app to locate one nearby.

Walmart, with its impressive selection of kitchen items, toiletries, and toys, is convenient yet not usually associated with high-quality luxury goods. The same goes for many casalinghi in Italy. In a reel posted to Instagram, @the_roman_food_tour shared some of the items you can find at these shops, from hardside or softside luggage to power adapters, using footage taken in Roman casalinghi stores. Some locals rushed to the comments to point out that the shops featured in the clip are "Chinese shops," or shops selling inexpensive products imported from China and other countries.

With this in mind, note that the household goods you might purchase while in Rome aren't Italian at all. This may be fine if you're in need of an emergency set of cutlery for your Airbnb or a bottle of body wash to use at your no-frills hostel. But for authentic Italian items or products you hope to use for years, consider looking at Rome's local boutiques and speciality stores instead. You can also stroll around the markets, including the Campo de' Fiori market in the city's historic center and the Porta Portese market in Trastevere, for antique and one-of-a-kind goods.