Arts & Crafts in Italy
 

Hello, I'm decorating for a party in rural, East Italy and I have been trying to find the right place to buy a large amount of fake flowers. I'm thinking a chain 'arts & crafts store' (like "Michaels" back in North America) would be the best. I am open to using real flowers too (but I would need A LOT), so if artificial flowers are a lot cheaper, I would go with artificial. Are there any crafty Italians out there who can point me in the right direction for such a store?

Where is rural, East Italy???

I'll be in Fermo, Le Marche. But I'm just asking if there is a chain/big box department type store for "arts and craft supplies" that exists throughout Italy.

I am neither crafty or Italian but it might be that IKEA is your best bet and that it would be better to order online than to track down the IKEA store nearest Fermo and count on it having what you want in stock.

http://www.ikea.com/it/it/catalog/ca...oration/12806/

Here are some other online vendors

http://www.fioriandfiori.it/

http://www.leroymerlin.it/prodotti/p...iali-CAT1174-c

(Leroy Martin also has a nationwide network of stores)

You can also try amazon.it

It is also possible that a local florist in Fermo would work with you to order the flowers. That might be best. It is normal for florists in Italy to carry both live and artificial flowers so the florist would have a source. Even your hotel might have a source.

Finally I will point out that artifical flowers do not weigh a lot. If you know what you want then you might find it easier to load a suitcase with artificial flowers and check the bag if you are flying a route where you are reasonably certain it won't get lost. I think if you try to ship them that they might get hung up in customs.

I live in Le Marche, although not very near Fermo. Fermo is a fair-sized city, by the way.

I've never seen a chain that resembles Michael's in Le Marche. Florists will usually have artificial flowers, but they may be more expensive than you expect.

Here is the result of an amazon.it search for "fiori artificiali". It will give you an idea of prices:

http://www.amazon.it/s/ref=nb_sb_nos...%20artificiali

I agree that you might be better advised to bring your flowers with you. Otherwise, if you get here and can't find anything that meets your needs, you'd better have a Plan B.