Where to buy Roman statues and busts in Rome, and what to check before you pay

The three routes, and why their prices differ

• Street stalls and kiosks. Around the main sites, fast and usually the cheapest. Often a small cast piece with no declared material and no address to go back to: fine as a memento, if you know what you are buying.
• Reproduction shops. The middle route, ours included, with museum bookshops at its official end: the piece is declared as a reproduction, its material and origin are stated, and a fixed address answers for it. The 34 pieces you can order from our catalogue online run from €33 to €4,750; busts start at €100.
• Antiquities galleries and auction houses. A different trade: genuine ancient objects, priced on provenance and paperwork that must be shown to you first.

Ask every seller, us included, for the price and the material in writing before you compare.

Four checks before you pay

• The declared material. Expect a specific answer: bronze-effect resin, bronze and resin, stone, steel. “Marble effect” is a colour, not a material.
• The finish. A hand-applied patina varies slightly from piece to piece; turn it over, because the base and back are where a rough mould seam shows.
• The weight. Pick it up: no photograph passes this test. As a rough indication, most of our desk-size statues weigh about 1.5 kg.
• The story. Which original the piece follows, where it is today, what it depicted. Vagueness on all three is the warning sign.

Our catalogue does not publish heights, and we would rather say so than invent them: ask us for the measurement before you buy.

What is on our shelves, with the site price

Six declared modern reproductions, all made in Italy: our statues and busts are produced by Italfama. The one exception in our catalogue is the Roma SPQR mosaic, declared “Made in the Vatican”. Site prices are at least 5% below our Etsy listings.

• Julius Caesar bust (€100). Resin with a realistic bronze effect, hand-finished; Medusa breastplate and imperial eagle. Our best seller.
• Medusa bust, the Gorgon (€130). Resin with a refined bronze-effect finish: the gorgoneion that adorned shields and armour as a protective amulet.
• Emperor Augustus, Prima Porta (€140). Bronze-effect resin, inspired by the Prima Porta Augustus in the Vatican Museums.
• Athena, goddess of wisdom (€130). Resin with hand-finished bronze-style details; owl and spear. The Romans worshipped her as Minerva.
• Nike of Samothrace (€140). Resin with a museum-quality bronze effect; the winged Victory rediscovered in 1863, whose original is in the Louvre.
• Lady Justice, 75 cm (€615). Bronze and resin: Iustitia with scales, raised sword and blindfold.

More in the statue shop guide and in how to care for a bronze-effect statue.

Getting here, and getting a statue home

Via Cavour 280 is about 350 metres from the Colosseum, five minutes on foot; the nearest metro stop is Colosseo (line B), about two minutes away.

Take the piece with you, or order online: pickup in store is free, shipping is free within Italy (2–4 working days), €20 to the European Union (3–7) and €50 to 21 selected countries outside it (6–14). Orders are dispatched in 1–2 working days, and online orders can be returned within 14 days.

What we do not sell: antiquities and archaeological finds

Everything we sell is a modern reproduction. We do not sell antiquities, excavated coins or fragments: in Italy, archaeological finds from the ground belong to the State, trade in cultural goods falls under the Codice dei beni culturali (Legislative Decree 42/2004), and their export is controlled by the Ministry of Culture’s export offices.

If a seller implies a piece is ancient but cannot show you the documents that would have to exist for it, walk away. From us you get a reproduction called a reproduction, its material written down, and a receipt with our name on it.