SaritaAgerman

Hey everyone,

Other than IKEA, where can you go to find sturdy but inexpensive furniture or general household bits and bobs in Italy?

I want to do research and compare prices/styles before I buy and so I'd love advice from those who've already gone through this experience. Are there any places that a newbie might not know about?

Sarita
saritaagerman.blogspot.it

Pinco Pallino

Welcome Sarita.

With a few exceptions Italy tends not to have national retail chains, so to be able to give any meaningful advice it would be useful to know where you're located.

The Italian furniture retailer sector was knocked for six when Ikea opened in Italy in the late 1980's, and many of the survivors sell medium to top-end stuff at not inexpensive prices. The really low-end stuff tends to be found in large supermarkets and DIY stores.

When ordering, be sure to ask if the furniture is in stock and immediately available for 'pronta consegna'. (Many furniture showrooms will take your purchase order and deposit, and then the manufacturers will make it for you. In my experience, delivery dates are rarely more than mere estimates. Don't place your order after the end of June if you're not prepared to wait for ages as most Italian factories have a summer shutdown.)

For some reason many Italians hate wood knots in their furniture and love sofas with large, bright flowery patterns (fantasia)!

Good luck with it.

HADENOUGHPIZZA

Ikea is gradually expanding and you might be near one of these http://www.mondoconv.it/
Some areas of Italy are specialised in this sector ( Brianza ) and have loads of showrooms and outlets otherwise you will find local showrooms. I can't say I've noticed the trend for flowery sofa's , here in Parma everything seems to be beige / cream / taupe , there are sevarl nationwide sofa chains ' poltrona e sofa ' and ' divani e divani ' are the largest .

37100

Semeraro is another one.

http://www.semeraro.it/en/

Can't say I've noticed a flower sofa trend either.

pugliese

chateau d'ax - good quality and reasonable prices. They have an offer to furnish your whole house for 10.000 euros.

stefanaccio

Have bought things from Mercatone Uno. But most of the furniture on the lower end and the store is kind of looked down upon by many Italians looking for a bit higher quality.