I’m reading a book, The Merchant of Prato, by Iris Origo, about a prominent merchant from the city of Prato, located 20 miles from Florence, who left behind some 500 business ledgers and account books when he died in 1560, about the same time as the Palazzo Antellesi was built. He put the phrase, “In the name of God and of profit” at the head of each ledger. Not much has changed in Tuscany, except the God part was dropped a couple hundred years ago. In the name of profit 2 outlet malls were built near Florence and they are a major tourist draw. One might even say tourist trap. Let’s start by getting there. The English language tourist guides have ads for the malls stating that there is a shuttle bus that will pick one up at the hotel. This fine service costs 25 euro round trip. For a couple that is $66 to get to the mall. The tourist guides fail to mention that the public bus gets you there for 6 euro round trip. So, right away I felt I had saved over $40 which I could then spend because we took the public bus. Arnie, of course, had a different idea. We had a lovely ride to one of the malls through the Tuscan countryside. More than half the trip was getting out of the city, 35 minutes, then a short and pretty 30 minutes on the Autostrada and we arrived, along with my predominantly Asian sisters.
The ads claim that the stores offer a 70% discount over retail. That is true, however, when something starts out at $1,000, 70% off is still a big chunk of change. I should mention that most stores do not allow cameras, except the Ermenegildo Zegna store, so to the extent that you may see some video inside Gucci, Ferragamo, Armani, I don’t know how that happened. Im still trying to learn how to use my camera?
I found that shopping, at my size, is no more fun in Italy than at home. I always forget the cruelty of a dressing room mirror. I though I knew my size equivalent in Italian sizes, but, I swear to God, I could not get my ANKLE into the pants that I thought were my size. The mall stores tend to have sample sizes and I am no longer a sample size girl. My skinny, young friends would have a great time at the mall!
We found Ferragamo to have the best pricing but not the most friendly. I rested a sweater on a shelf that just happened to be the extra small shelf. The “helpful” salesgirl rushed over and said, “Madam, this shelf is extra-small.” I gave her that, “AND????” look, then told her I placed the LARGE sweater there. I still bought the sweater and a pair of slacks from her.
Even Arnie got in the act. He found a beautiful sweater at the Zegna store. They were very helpful and very nice. We learned that Arnie is an XL in Italy. That made me feel a bit better since he is not an XL at home, at least not when we left.
The bus didn’t leave for Florence until 4PM, which gave us 4 hours, so after discovering our limited purchasing power options, we killed time the best way we know how: lunch. I guess that could explain why I can’t get into sample sizes.
Anyway, Arnie had a spaghetti carbonara and I had a pork picata along with a half bottle of Tuscan wine. As usual in Italy, even mall food is good. The bus trip back was very pleasant and we were home in plenty of time for dinner. We were happy campers
The ads claim that the stores offer a 70% discount over retail. That is true, however, when something starts out at $1,000, 70% off is still a big chunk of change. I should mention that most stores do not allow cameras, except the Ermenegildo Zegna store, so to the extent that you may see some video inside Gucci, Ferragamo, Armani, I don’t know how that happened. Im still trying to learn how to use my camera?
I found that shopping, at my size, is no more fun in Italy than at home. I always forget the cruelty of a dressing room mirror. I though I knew my size equivalent in Italian sizes, but, I swear to God, I could not get my ANKLE into the pants that I thought were my size. The mall stores tend to have sample sizes and I am no longer a sample size girl. My skinny, young friends would have a great time at the mall!
We found Ferragamo to have the best pricing but not the most friendly. I rested a sweater on a shelf that just happened to be the extra small shelf. The “helpful” salesgirl rushed over and said, “Madam, this shelf is extra-small.” I gave her that, “AND????” look, then told her I placed the LARGE sweater there. I still bought the sweater and a pair of slacks from her.
Even Arnie got in the act. He found a beautiful sweater at the Zegna store. They were very helpful and very nice. We learned that Arnie is an XL in Italy. That made me feel a bit better since he is not an XL at home, at least not when we left.
The bus didn’t leave for Florence until 4PM, which gave us 4 hours, so after discovering our limited purchasing power options, we killed time the best way we know how: lunch. I guess that could explain why I can’t get into sample sizes.
Anyway, Arnie had a spaghetti carbonara and I had a pork picata along with a half bottle of Tuscan wine. As usual in Italy, even mall food is good. The bus trip back was very pleasant and we were home in plenty of time for dinner. We were happy campers
Here’s the link to the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/user/alaguar1
Here’s the link to the few remaining pictures: http://flickr.com/gp/susanarnietravel/2pmhQS
