The Florence Mall
Okay, you’ve done the Uffizi, the Bargello, the Accademia. You’ve seen the Duomo, the Pitti Palace, Michelangelo’s David and the Medici Chapel … now it’s time for some serious shopping. Some 30 minutes away from the Ponte Vecchio you’ll find ‘The Mall’. You’ll either need to drive or take the train (to S Ellero) and then a cab, because believe us this place is pretty well hidden. From the road you might think this was simply another of the rather hideous ‘industrial zones’ that befoul the fringes of Italian cities, but step within the shed-like exterior and you find a veritable Aladdin’s Cave of designer apparel, all diaplayed within an atmosphere of discreet tinted glass, creamy marble slabs and artfully arranged greenery.
You’ll find Gucci, Sergio Rossi, Yves Saint Laurent, Ungaro, Valentino, Bottega Veneta, Ermengildo Zegna and, of course, Armani. Last-season’s schmutter for sure, with a rich seasoning of seconds and samples, but what seconds. You’ll pay a fraction here of what you’d be charged on Fifth Avenue or Bond Street … or for that matter in downtown Florence. In fact, the joke on the fake-merchants is that with Fendi bags at €120, Gucci dresses from €100 and shoes from €40, you can buy cheaper in the Mall than from the knock-off merchants on the Ponte Vecchio. So, with the perverse logic of the serial shopper, we say, go on … save yourself some money!
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