Rome Shopping – Castel Romano Designer Outlet

Rome Shopping – Designer Outlet Malls

Castel Romano Designer Outlet Mall, Rome

Rome is shopping heaven and people who love fashion and all things stylish will make time to shop when in Rome.  Designer outlet malls or villages have become very popular in Europe and more and more designer discount outlet malls, shopping villages and districts are popping up across Europe.

Everyone loves a bargain and dedicated followers of fashion hunt down Designer outlets if they know that there’s one in the city.  So when you’re in Rome and you’ve been defeated by the high prices of via Condotti then your best bet is to head for one of these outlet malls.

Castel Romano Designer Outlet Mall

Castel Romano is one such Designer Outlet mall. The place is run by the McArthurGlen Group who have outlets in several countries in Europe. At Castel Romano you will find a range of prestigious labels and quality items at discounts ranging from 30% to 70%, depending on whether they are current or previous season’s stock. Given the price tag of some of these labels, even a 30% discount would only make a mere dent on the full-priced item, so it may be necessary to hunt down those items with at least 50% discount. As mentioned in the previous post, the tax refund will also help in bringing down the final cost of purchase a little further.

There are over 110 boutiques in the mall, some more fabulous than others and certainly some of the labels that the girls in Sex and the City were dressed in are available here, e.g. Ferragamo, Gucci, Cavalli, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, and the list goes on.

By the way, this is not a ladies only domain as there are lots of menswear too. Apart from fashion wear you’ll also find sports wear, homewares and gifts, leather goods and fashion accessories.

Designer outlet malls and villages are usually located on the outskirts of town where the rents are cheaper and there is more space available. This is the case with the Castel Romano Outlet which is situated on the outskirts of Rome.  Although only 25 km outside of the city, there’s no easy way to get there on public transport.  For this reason, private tour companies have sprung up to capitalize on the gap and create guided shopping tours for tourists. A disappointing aspect of these private tours is the limited hours of shopping and the price is not cheap either, which means eroding into the savings from your discounts.

Getting to Castel Romano by public transport:

Our first expedition to Castel Romano was a bit of a hairy experience.  From Termini Station, we caught the train for Laurentina (Line B). Laurentina is the end of the line and there is a regional bus terminus here. There are different bus lines here and it’s the COTRAL buses that we need and one that is going in the general direction of Pomezia. The depot employees don’t speak any English and as long as they don’t shake their head in the negative, we assumed we were on the right bus.

**September 30, 2009 Update – It’s currently not possible to catch the public buses to Castel Romano.  Due to a stretch of road works in the vicinity of Castel Romano, the Cotral buses are no longer stopping at Castel Romano.  The good news for shoppers is that Castel Romano now have their own shuttle service to the outlet leaving from Rome Termini Station. 

See our Getting to Castel Romano update.** 

Once on the bus and not speaking any Italian, we tried asking people on the bus if they knew of Castel Romano. A couple of the men shrugged, others consulted each other, but generally it appeared that they didn’t seem to have any idea. The discussion reached the hearing of an elderly lady at the front of the bus and straight away she knew what we were after. From the pitch of her voice and her hand gestures, she appeared to be admonishing the men for being ill-informed. Trust these men for not knowing where this important Outlet Mall is.

Signora hit the bell straight away and motioned us to get off the bus and pointed across the road. Yes the Big White Signature Tents of Castel Romano is a prominent landmark along the route so how could these men not know it. Bless this kind signora for being on the bus and hearing our call for help. Later on, I worked out that the men must have thought that, being tourists, we must be looking for a Roman castle and there’s none in the area! Once we got off the bus, finding the entrance to Castel Romano wasn’t that straight forward either on the first occasion.

Once you’re at Castel Romano, it’s quite a pleasant place to spend the day checking out all the shops. There are food outlets there, so there’s no problems with sustenance. We bought some really nice stuff from our various trips here, including leather jackets, shoes, etc.

For our return trip to Rome, we caught a cab from Castel Romano back to Laurentina. It would have been too crazy to try and catch a bus back especially as there’s no bus stops on the road and we didn’t have a clue as to the bus schedule.  We also had a lot of shopping bags!

Things are a bit easier these days and the Castel Romano’s office administration has made arrangements with taxi drivers for a fixed fare back to the station. The last time we did the trip it cost us Euro 30, which was much more reasonable than in the earlier days where you had to haggle, but got robbed anyway.

So if you’re planning on venturing out there on your own, make sure you write the name and address on a piece of paper to show the bus driver as you’ll not find many people on the outskirts who will be able to help you with directions in English. Keep a lookout for the signature white tents of Castel Romano.  Perhaps on your first trip out there, it may be a safer option to catch a cab from Laurentina to Castel Romano.

By car:

Exit 26 from the G.R.A. (Rome orbital road) – Main road 148 Pontina – Castel Romano exit

Address:
Castel Romano Designer Outlet
Via Ponte di Piscina Cupa, 64
00128 Castel Romano (Roma) , Italy
Infoline: +39 06 50 500 50

Opening Hours:
Mon – Thur    10:00 – 20:00
Fri – Sun          10:00 – 21:00
Closed:  Easter and Easter Monday

For more Designer Discount Outlets in other cities in Europe and the UK , see our Designer Outlet Directory.