Flyingaway

I'll be in Venice for a week- it will be the only place I am going to in Italy. Would love to get specific suggestions about places to shop, what is truly Venetian to buy, and equally important - places to avoid. I would love to come home with some purchases, but at the same time don't want to buy gifts that look great on vacation but tacky at home.
All ideas welcome!

Jean

I have brought home glass made on the island of Murano. If you want to buy Murano glass, look for this trademark displayed in the window of the shop and on the glass itself.

http://www.muranoglass.com/murano/eng/uso.htm

If you don't find the trademark, it's very likely the glass was made in China, even if it's being sold in a shop on Murano. Sadly, most the glass you'll see in Venice was not made there.

Flyingaway

Thanks! Any other suggestions?

DonTopaz

I agree with Murano, with a few caveats.

Once in Murano, take your time. Avoid the places that are the closest to the boat pier. Look carefully at the piece -- if you're not quite sure, ask the shop proprietor to take the piece into a room (or even outside) that has different light.

And definitely don't be shy about bargaining. Even after you've decided "yes, this is a piece I want to buy," take your time in agreeing to purchase it. There's an excellent chance that you would get a very substantial price difference if you pay in cash. If the guy offers such a discount and you don't have that much cash, offer the same price but half in cash and half on a credit card. (The reason for the cash is probably not so much the small fee that charge cards add, but far more likely so that the owner can underreport the sale for tax purposes.) Cheers,

Don
Owner ... Don Topaz Travel

tarquin

Agree with most of the above except that it is not true that most of the glass is not made on Murano, most of it is, and you don't need to go to Murano to buy, the shops in Venice itself have just as much choice at the same prices. But do bargain, some shops will and some don't, but no harm asking.

If you like stationery, there are nice marbled and blockprinted notebooks etc, also a chain of shops selling quite attractive brightly coloured leather handbags very reasonably. And some fabulous furnishing fabrics at Bevilaqua, Rubelli and Studium Fortuny.

Tarquin (who is looking forward to shopping in Venice next month)

caroline_edinburgh

I am not a shopper and don't normally shop on holiday, but on our sixth visit to Venice, in June this year, I did decide I'd like some Murano glass jewellery for my birthday. I saw a few pieces in Venice proper which were OK but felt that I could maybe get a better guarantee that something was Murano-made on Murano. Whevever we'd been to Murano before, we'd got off at the Museo vaporetto stop and thought the shops we saw at that end of the island all looked pretty tacky and horrible. This time by sheer chance we got off at the Colonna stop and what a difference ! There were some much classier showrooms starting with one of those right by the vaporetto stop, although still mixed in with some less good - after a few we could tell by the window display whether a place was worth going in or not for us (as well as looking for something nice, I prefer more modern designs). I eventually bought a lovely set of necklace and earrings handmade by the maestro at Cesare Sant - and a cheaper set for everday which came with no such endorsement, so I daresay probably wasn't even made there

Agree there are nice shops/workshops selling handmade paper products, if that appeals to you.

You may also be interested in taking home food & drink products from a speciality grocer - your country probably bans the import of fresh produce but there is stuff like oils, vinegars, truffle paste, coffee and preserves (kicking myself I forgot last time to buy chestnut honey, which is difficult to get here and which I've now run out of). I've always had success by packing glass jars and bottles stuffed into the middle of my bags of used laundry, maybe wrapped first in clingfilm to make any breakage easier to deal with (but I've never had a breakage yet). Admittedly most of this isn't specifically Venetian but it is Italian !

Jean

We spent a fair amount of time talking with a glassmaker on our last trip to Venice in 2009. He was the one who told us that most of the glass we would see in Venice is not made on Murano, most of it made in China, and that we should look for the official 'made in Murano' trademark. When you see the sheer volume of 'Murano' glass for sale in Venice (some of it really awful assembly-line looking junk), it is hard to imagine it all being made on one tiny island.

kat12

I bought beautiful Murano sconces for my bedroom. I saw them in a shop in Venice, a store that sells only the glassmaker's designs. I ended up emailing them when I returned home and ordered them from the states. They are elegant and unique. When I was in Venice last year, I visited the store again and considered buying a vase, but I passed on it. Having a piece of Venetian glass is a great way to remember your visit to that amazing city.

Suspaul

I'm not much of a shopper while on vacation but I loved the masks in a few of the shops, brought back 2 small ones and have them hanging in my foyer.

DownUnder

Venetia Studium for the best products in Venice. Only place licensed to reproduce Fortuny. http://www.venetiastudium.com/fortun...ilk_lamps.html

klondike

As others have commented on, we brought home necklace and earing sets and I have a cordial set purchased there many years ago.

The most fun we've had is going into the local grocery store and just rummaging around, seeing what the locals were buying. We got some flavored olive oil, dried pasta and packaged seasonings, as well as a few packets for 'instant' sauce. Wide choice of Italian cookies, though they weren't my favorite.