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Shopping
By admin | June 12, 2008
Once you own a house in Italy you will need to locate all manner of things from furniture to appliances, garden equipment, towels - the list is endless. We have been asked to create a shopping post so that the professional shopaholics can share their specialised knowledge.
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Topics: Share your wisdom, Uncategorized |
June 25th, 2008 at 11:07 am
The following observations are based on a project to completely refurnish a house in Tuscany and primarily based on a comparison with UK.
Shopping in Italy for furniture and household equipment can be very different from the UK. There are fewer department stores and far more specialist independent retailers. Generally we have found this means an excellent level of service but especially for high quality furniture you need to get used to sitting down with the retailer and working your way through catalogues and samples - what you see in the furniture showrooms is just a fraction of what is available. They always will give you an estimate of costs. Be careful and double check measurements and colour matches, furniture is made to your final quote - at this point you are committed and mistakes are expensive - we know from experience! Be prepared to pay a deposit and allow up to 12 weeks for delivery.
Furniture shops will often offer a kitchen design service and lighting as well as free standing and built in furniture. ( We would recommend Zucchini in Camucia for furniture, Binova for kitchens and built in furniture in Perugia, Edil Ceramica in Perugia for flooring , tiles and bathrooms and Lumen in Sinalunga for lights.) The area around Magione is also good to browse.
Our experience is that good antique furniture is harder to find in Italy and relatively expensive. One exception appears to be wardrobes, which you can buy, have restored and internally ’designed’ for a reasonable price. There is a good shop in Cetona and another on the outskirts of Montepulciano. If you have fallen for antique wrought iron beds you can have reproductions made (at Biagotti just outside Pienza. They also stock other wrought iron items and a limited number of antiques. )
For more economic options IKEA at Firenze is great - if you have yet to try it go and see. We had particular success with lights at IKEA and small accessories ( vases, waste-paper bins, storage systems etc). Emmelunga is also an interesting store and Divani and Divani can be good for, unsurprisingly, sofas.
Another alternative is to find a local carpenter /furniture factory of which there are many and ask them to make to your design. We had a lot of success that way.
General household equipment is much easier - go to any of the major electrical stores and there is a vast array of irons, hoovers, although interestingly few electric kettles, you might want to go for a gas hob version. They also stock kitchen equipment, crockery, cutlery and the like.
Other options for the latter include IKEA again, Emmelunga and Grancasa. There are also plenty of smaller shops that are interesting. You could also try the Outlet village at Valdichiana.
For pillows, duvets, towels and bedding we ended up bringing most of this from the UK. Whilst there are the most beautiful linens in Italy they are pricey and the alternatives from Hypermarkets tend to be of poorer quality - sometimes you just long for a John Lewis or a Debenhams. Beware bed sizes though; Italian beds are king sized and Ikea bed-linen is often designed for Ikea duvets and beds.
Finally if you have pictures or prints to frame do them in the UK.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Amazing that they have an IKEA in Italy!
June 26th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Actually there are several Ikea stores in Italy. The one at Florence is ideal for most home owners in Tuscany and Umbria but if you fly into Rome you may wish to pass by Ikea there and stock up before you head north. They even serve the usual Swedish meat balls in the café!
June 26th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Ikea is great for furnishing a house in a less expensive way but if you are looking to rent it out as a vacation destination you may want to pick up some pieces that are Italian in style to give that classic warm look.