Great places, great buys

 Many Italian products are world-famous for their style and quality. Care should be taken when buying antiques since Italy is renowned for skilled imitators. Prices are generally fixed and bargaining is not general practice, although a discount may be given on a large purchase.

Florence, Milan and Rome are famous as important fashion centers, but smaller towns also offer good scope for shopping. It is advisable to avoid hawkers or sellers on the beaches. Some places are known for particular products, eg Carrara (Tuscany) for marble, Como (Lombardy) for silk, Deruta (Umbria) and Faenza (Emilia-Romagna)  for pottery, Empoli (Tuscany) for the production of bottles and glasses in green glass and Prato (Tuscany) for textiles. Alghero (Sardinia) and Torre Annunziata (Campania) are centers for handicraft products in coral, and in several parts of Sardinia business cards and writing paper made of cork are produced. Cremona (Lombardy) is famous for its handmade violins. Castelfidardo (Marche) is famous for its accordion factories, and for its production of guitars and organs.

Two small towns concentrate on producing their specialty: Valenza (Piedmont), which has a large number of goldsmith artisans, and Sulmona (Abruzzo), which produces ‘confetti’, sugar-coated almonds used all over Italy for wedding celebrations. Vietri sul Mare (Campania) is one of the most important centers of ceramic paving-tiles, and Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna) is famous for mosaics.

Main shopping areas are listed below.

 ROME: Offers a wide choice of shops and markets. Every shop in the fashionable Via Condotti–Via Sistina area offers a choice of styles, colors and designs rarely matched, but at very high prices. Equally expensive are shops along Via Vittorio Veneto, a street famous for its outdoor cafes. Old books and prints can be bought from bookstalls of Piazza Borghese. Rome’s flea market is at Porta Portese in Trastevere on Sunday mornings, selling everything from second-hand shoes to ‘genuine antiques’.

 MILAN: The city’s industrial wealth is reflected in the chic, elegant shops of Via Montenapoleone. Prices tend to be higher than in other major cities.

 VENICE: Is still famous for its glassware and there is a great deal of both good and bad glass; that made on the island of Murano, where there are also art dealers and skillful goldsmiths, has a reputation for quality. Venetian lace is also exquisite and expensive; however, most of the lace sold is no longer made locally (only lace made on the island of Burano may properly be called Venetian lace).

 FLORENCE: Boasts some of the finest goldsmiths, selling from shops largely concentrated along both sides of the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Florentine jewelry has a particular quality of satin finish called satinato. Much filigree jewelry can also be found. Cameos are another specialty of Florence, carved from exotic shells.

 SOUTHERN ITALY: In the south, there are still families handmaking the same local products as their ancestors: pottery and carpets in each region; filigree jewelry and products of wrought iron and brass in Abruzzo; products in wood in Calabria; corals and cameos in Campania; a variety of textiles, including tablecloths, in Sicily and Sardinia. In Cagliari, it is possible to find artistic copies of bronze statuettes from the Nuraghe period of the Sardinian Bronze Age. In the larger towns, such as Bari, Cagliari, Calabria, Naples, Palermo and Reggio, there are elegant shops with a whole range of Italian products. Many smaller towns have outdoor markets, but souvenirs sold there are sometimes of very low quality, probably mass-produced elsewhere.

 SHOPPING HOURS: Mon-Sat 0830-1230 and 1530-1930, with some variations in northern Italy where the lunch break is shorter and the shops close earlier. Food shops are often closed on Wednesday afternoons.