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| Bringing Home Tuscany in Your Luggage
Bringing Home Tuscany in Your Luggage
Tuscany in Central Italy is known for its eclectic taste in art and culture. It is a combination of Old World Charm and modern convenience. There are many tourist locations in the region that you can visit - from historical sites to wineries and vineyards. There are also many luxurious villas for you to choose from in case you wish to stay for more than a weekend. One of the greatest things about traveling to the region is bringing home Tuscany. Yes, its souvenir shopping time.
Bringing home Tuscany need not be overly expensive or as lame as a postcard from a bookstore. The trick is to know what to buy and where to buy it from. If you are in Tuscany and you just happen to enroll yourself into one of the many walking tours in the region, you will be able to see a lot of these small souvenir shops scattered all over the place.
The City of Florence in particular is a great place to shop for fine leather goods. Designer brands like Fendi, Ferragamo and Gucci have stores that would welcome you with open arms. Other less known and unassuming shops also sell quality leather products that are more affordably priced. You can find your fill of quality leather belts, purses, shoes and bags in Florence alone.
A word of caution though; not all leather goods sold in Florence actually come from Florence. Some are imported (yes, imported) into the city just for the tourist trade. So, if you really want to know if you are buying quality products, look at the finishing of the item. Quality products are evenly sewn, solidly packed and won't have those little "oversights" like loose finishing or tarnished button locks. Leather also has a distinctive touch and smell to it that you can easily distinguish.
If you feel the product isn't what its claiming to be (fine leather goods,) then don't buy it. If you want a guarantee of the real thing, you go a decent looking shop instead of patronizing the multiple leather goods kiosks on the streets of Florence. After all, when you tell your friends that you are bringing home Tuscany, they will actually want you to bring home something worthwhile.
If you would prefer the small kiosks to buy a lot of trinkets, try to haggle delicately with the shop owner, if you can. Small items like leather key chains, hand-tooled bracelets, magnets, calendars, small-scale replicas of Tuscany's landmarks and Pinocchio dolls can be bought by the bulk and may even earn you a discount or two. If you have friends with you, try doing your souvenir shopping together.
Bringing home Tuscany can also mean bringing home the taste of Tuscany. You can order such fancy fare like flavored olive oil, grappa and Tuscan wine, dried / colored home-made pasta and candied fruits. Boxes of locally made sweets are also a welcome treat for souvenir shoppers. If you want more permanent souvenirs, hit the shops that sell quality crystal wares or those that sell reproductions of Italian artworks. When you are bringing home Tuscany, try to make sure that the things you are buying will actually remind you of the good times you spent in the region.
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