Hi all
Does anyone know of any quality Christmas ornament shops in Venice,
Cinque Terre, or Tuscany.
Thanks for your help
Randy Pratico
USA
I don't know of any Christmas-themed shops, but FWIW my wife usually picks up little cheapo souvenir baubles (key chains and the like) featuring representative local designs that she then converts into ornaments for our own tree ... everything from the logo of the local football team to something showing an architectural highlight of the place - anything to make a memory come Christmas time.
I buy Christmas ornaments everywhere I go. Around the corner from San Marco is a store called Venice Corner. It has the usual tourist flat Murano ornaments, but also a few that I hadn’t seen elsewhere. I bought a Murano glass gondolier. You’ll find colored Murano glass balls in many shops. I also found lace ornaments in shops around the city and on Burano. Walk around to find what you want.
Can’t help you with Tuscany or Cinque Terre since I won’t be there until September. Deruta pottery shops show ornaments on their websites.
For Florence: I am afraid it is not the best place for Xmas ornaments. We shop at cooperativa di Legnaia, that from October has a sort of huge Christmas village - but we are more talking about basic ornaments than top quality ones, and Legnaia is hard to reach without a car.
Then, there are a few shops of sacred art around the Duomo, very expensive. My wife also suggests having a look to the very tiny Cartoleria Tilli in Via de' Servi, a few steps from the Duomo on the right, that has Xmas paper ornaments all year round.
If you visit any museums, be sure to check the gift shop on the way
out.
True. I bought our ornament from Florence at the Uffizi's book/gift shop. Have done the same at some other museum shops. The person who mentioned converting key chains to ornaments? Yep, I have a favorite little bear from Antwerp that was a keychain bauble, and a small china beer mug from Munich. Can't remember where I bought our hand-painted ball in the CT but remember that finding an ornament wasn't difficult. Randy, you won't have to dig deep to find what you're looking for 'cause ornaments are popular souvenirs. :O)
There were a number of shops in Lucca selling ornaments when we were there, but that was in Novmber, when one would expect to see seasonal merchandise.
Not a Christmas ornament as such but I bought a miniature venetian face with a mask. It is gorgeous and I use it as an ornament for "Italy" as well as my trip to Venice.
Thank you all for taking the time to share your ideas for Christmas ornaments. I really appreciate it
Randy