Forget about Gucci: Primark Is in Rome!
Italy is without a doubt a powerhouse of fashion in general and elite fashion in particular. There is no one who has come all the way to Rome without crossing Via del Corso back and forth as if it were a fashion runway! Moreover, it is more likely that you'll return to your home country with a suitcase full of new clothes than with Parmesan (tested and proven!).
- Halelei Amiad - Romio Team
- May 22, 2022
Rome is rich in well-known fashion chains such as Zara, Bershka and H&M, alongside Italian and European chains such as Intimissimi and Sephora that offer all the nice clothes you can carry (and you can carry up to 23 kilos per suitcase, that’s not bad!). You will find many elite brands in the direction of the Spanish Steps such as Gucci, Dior and Louis Vuitton. Even if you can’t afford them, looking through the shop windows is a thrilling experience in itself. Still, with all the diverse selection Rome has to offer, one question had come up over and over for years: Where is Primark? We had searched and searched for it as if it were gold, and we hadn’t found it until the year of 2020. Alongside life in the shadow of the infamous COVID-19, Primark’s first store was finally opened in Rome. It took almost four years from the moment Primark arrived in Italy with its first store in Milan, until the long-awaited location was found in the capital city (you should remember it’s not a small store). The first Primark in Rome was opened in the Maximo Shopping Center, in the EUR district.
God was attentive to the whispers of our heart (sometimes us writers get poetic…) and in just one year, the second store was also established in the city, in the ROMAEST mall (Rome West).
With the “rekindling” of tourism in Italy, the eternal question of “Where is Primark?” came back, yet now we have a proper answer, which is not in Via del Corso. Good things require effort, and in order to get to the Irish stores, you’ll need a rental car or tickets for public transportation. The first store established in the Maximo Shopping Center is larger compared to its brother in the west of Rome, but both offer the best that Primark has to offer. Romio recommends that you try both – you will surely discover a wonderful world that is all outside Via del Corso.
How to get to Maximo Shopping Center, and what can you find there besides Primark?
From Termini station: from the Termini area – take Metro B towards Laurentina. Get off at the last stop, and then take a bus – no. 72/73/74. Get off the bus after seven stops, at the Laurentina/Celine station which is in front of the mall.
From the Pantheon or Fontana di Trevi area – go towards Piazza Venezia, from there take bus no. 170 towards Termini (seven stops). There is no need to get off the bus because it changes its number to L80 – you can continue with it until the Carucci/Anagrafe Tributaria station (seven stops). Then walk for nine minutes in a straight direction until you reach the mall.
From the Vatican area: Bus lines 64 and 916 will take you to Piazza Venezia; from there, continue according to the explanation above.
By a rented car: Write “Via Laurentina 865, Rome” in Waze, and be careful not to drive on public transport lanes to maintain a fine-free ride.
In addition to Primark, you can find other desirable brands at Maximo, such as Adidas, Aldo, Flying Tiger Copenhagen, Foot Locker, Intimissimi, Nespresso, Mango and Swarovski.
If you get hungry, the food section offers the wonderful pizza chain Alice Pizza, a bucket of KFC fried chicken, and even Poke bowls.
How to get to ROMAEST, and what can you find there besides Primark?
From the Termini area: Route 1: take Metro B towards Rebibbia. Get off at the Ponte Mammolo station eight stops later, cross the road to the opposite station and from there get on bus no. 075 (towards Tonino Bello), and get off after 19 stops at the Colonnetti station. From there you have to walk for fifteen minutes in a straight direction until you see the mall in front of you.
Route 2: take the train towards Avezzano. Get off at the Ponte di Nona station, which is also the first stop of the train, and from there walk for about fifteen minutes until you see the mall in front of you.
Take a train From Tiburtina station (metro B) towards Lunghezza, get off at Ponte di Nona station (after eight stops and an hour and a half drive), and walk for about fifteen minutes until you see the mall in front of you.
If you’re traveling from the city center, near sites such as the Pantheon and Fontana di Trevi, we recommend arriving at the Termini/Tiburtina station by metro or on foot, and continuing according to the routes above.
ROMAEST has, besides Primark, a wide variety of stores such as Adidas, Bershka, Levi’s, Calvin Klein Jeans, Pull&Bear, Timberland, Zara, Under Armour, Claire’s, Kiko, MAC and more. The food section also “knows” how to indulge its customers and offers, for example, 100 Montaditos – a Spanish cuisine offering many types of small sandwiches at a funny price and with a Spanish inspiration, McDonald’s, KFC, and even the wonderful Grom ice cream. For those of you who enjoy examining huge supermarkets abroad, ROMAEST also offers a huge branch of the Panorama
To conclude
It is indeed a winding road to Primark stores in Rome, but it’s worth your time. Until the beloved store opens its doors in the city center as well, there is nothing left but to move between buses, trains and metro, or by a shorter trip in a rented car or taxi. On the positive side, you will get to see the local neighborhoods of Rome along the way, and in the malls themselves you will probably hear more Italian than foreign languages from tourists. Don’t forget to fill out the Tax Free forms if you purchase above the legal amount, which currently stands at 155 euros. You can get a tax refund up to 22 percent, which will be a proper compensation for your effort getting to the Primark stores in Rome. Other stores of Primark in Italy can be found in Catania (Sicily), Verona, Campi Bisenzio (near Florence), Brescia, Arese (Milan) and Rosano (Milan).
