Cameo "factories"?
 

Going to Italy and was wondering where to go to get a nice hand-carved italian cameo in Rome, Florence or Venice. Seems like more of a southern Italy specialty.

30 yrs ago I took a 2 day, 1 night tour south of Rome. We stopped by a cameo factory. I bet that most tours out of ROme include some sort of factory stop

I'm guessing that Naples would be a good place. VAS Tours does a stop at a cameo factory around Naples.<BR><BR>http://www.enjoyrome.com/vastours/naples.html

ER<BR><BR>There is also a factory in Sorrento.<BR><BR>

Buying a cameo was always on my 'things to do in Italy' list. Last April, in Naples we were shopping. An old man stopped us and started chatting. We were up for a bit of adventure so we went with him to his brother's place waaaaaay up on a hill. We took the tram up and started walking. The area got a bit shady and we got a bit nervous. Lo and behold, we got to the top and there was a shop. I wouldn't call it a factory, exactly - but they did make the cameo's and I got one about the size of a nickel for around 100 USD. It was exactly what I wanted and I wear it nearly every day. I didn't see any in Venice that I like - they were all really big.

We saw them being made by hand in small shops in both Sorrento and Capri. Not "factories" but tiny little stores. I can't recall where the one in Anacapri was, but the one in Sorrento was diagonally across from Davide's gelato.

There is a large cameo factory and store about 1/2 block southwest of the entrance to the Pompeii scavi. It is a major stop for bus tours going to Pompeii and Sorrento. Wondeful work and prices to match.

Jim--in reference to the cameo factory near Pompeii ---- do you remember the<BR>price range of the cameo's ?

As I remember they ranged from around 100 EURO for small pieces up to thousands for some large elaborate pieces. We were on a Carrani Tours day trip from Rome to Pompeii and Sorrento, making the obligitory "gouge the bus group" souvenir stop. The only thing we were exited about were the clean toilet facilities. Only the second day of our trip and were still testing out the old budget, so we weren't ready for any major purchases at that time. Saving our money for Venice glass!!<BR>I bet you could find a web site for Carrani Tours and they would tell you the name of the shop in Pompeii.

I thought the original question was where can ER buy some cameos, not where can she visit a factory. Anyway, I don't know any specific places cameos can be bought in Rome, Florence or Venice, but I suspect that most jewelry shops in any of those cities will carry cameos. We saw shops all over in Sorrento and Amalfi with lots of cameos on display, but ER was asking about those three specific cities.