Can good deals still be found now that Italy is using the Euro
 

I was in Italy right before the Euro came into use. At that time you could still find good deals on leathergoods, etc... I hear now that Euros are the currency in Italy prices are about the same as in the US and elsewhere in Europe. Can anyone confirm this? I am going back in December. Thanks.

I was recently in Italy and a local told me it's much more expensive now. When converting to the Euro, businesses, etc. also decided to raise their prices. That was my first time in Italy so I had nothing to compare to, but this came right from an Italian's mouth. Overall, I still found Italy very reasonable. I live in Chicago though where a house glass of wine is $8.00!

i did not find great deals in italy this year. in 2001, i found the cost<BR>of everything to be very reasonable.<BR>there was a news program on the tele.<BR>in italy this summer, and the people<BR>who were being interviewed<BR>were really complaining about the increase regarding cost of living.

I think the concept of "reasonable" price depends on where you are coming from. Like Dori, I'm used to paying ridiculous amounts for everthing here in NYC so Italy (and much of the rest of the world) always seem like a bargain!<BR><BR>In Italy the prices have been raised on a lot of the small things, really just rounded up a bit, but everybody there knows exactly what they were paying for a bottle of Orangina before and don't like paying a few pennies more now. Lot's of kvetching! As for leather goods and fashion items, other more expensive non-essentials, I'd say there are still bargains to be found. Hotels and restaurant bills still seem to me to be great bargains compared to similar in US.

Depends:<BR><BR>prices often enough have not simply been "rounded up a bit". For instance public transportations tickets in Milano are 25% more costly than they used to be. Small items that used to be sold for 1000 lire now cost 1 euro (1 euro = 1936,27 lire), those that were sold for 2000 lire now cost 2 euro, more or less twice as much!

On a recent trip I found everything to be reasonably priced as compared to what I pay for things int he States. It does depend on what you want. You cannot eat and drink ata better price than in Italy - '97 Brunello's for 30euro/bottle as compared with $70 USD -and when bought in Italy they contain no sulphites! Pottery was quite reasonble, I bought 3 large platters for under 100 euro total. Gold and leather are still good buys, maybe not quite the bargain they were 10 years ago, but what is?

We returned last Saturday from a two week stay in Sicily and Calabria and I found that meals in restaurants, tickets to attractions and items in the stores were far less expensive than they would be in the states, and on par with what they were in 1998 and 2000 during our last pre-Euro visits to Italy.

The beliefs that the bottle of 97 Brunello has no or even less sulfites is sheer fantasy. The import label must list "contains sulfites", BATF law here and that is the only difference.

I think it depends on where you go. I've gotten great deals in italy! I bought a full length leather coat for $185 (bargaining of course). I also bought 2 leather purses, one for $14 anad one for $16. I've bought lenox china for as little as $1. I think good deals are still around!

We went to a specific store just outside of Florence two years ago. This year we went to the same store and the prices were double. She had taken the 6000 Lire and changed it to 6 Euro instead of 3 Euro. One of our cousins who is a shopkeeper in Italy said that that's what many people are doing instead of changing the Lira to Euro correctly. So the prices are double in some stores. Not all. In the news papers you can see that German and Greek citizens have had strikes because many shopkeepers are doing the same thing there.

Hotel in Rome cost me 220,000 (114 euros) before the Euro came in but after the rate was annonced. That same hotel now is 180 euros. Even with inflation factored in, that's a steep increase. <BR><BR>Ouch, I feel for the Italians as I'm sure their paychecks weren't 'rounded up'.<BR>

All I can say, is if you find Italy reasonable, come to CANADA. The prices in Italy made writing off shopping very easy to do. Sorry, but if paying 100 euro for three plates is a good deal ... In Canada that is about $60 a plate and boy can I get some great pottery here for that. As a side note, much of the "hand made" Italian pottery I saw for those horrendous prices - were ceramics with stencils. These guys have quite the scam going on.<BR>Wine is about the only bargain going - but even a good bottle there is comparable to an overtaxed Canadian bottle.<BR>

I just returned from Italy 2 weeks ago, and I have to agree that the shopkeeepers haven't converted prices correctly - 1,000 lire had become 1 Euro. We noticed it was more expensive this time. 10 years ago when we lived there, we traveled around and the B&Bs were a bargain for traveling cheaply; now they are as expensive as hotels in some cases. Having said that, I bought a large beautiful copper, tin-lined stockpot from a kindly family-run shop in Montepulciano - it is comparable to the Italian Ruffino brand sold in Sur La Table. Even with DHL charges to ship it, I saved over $50.

To the person who wrote that Brunello purchased in Italy contains no sulfites: Nonsense. It does. The difference is t hat Italy does not require sulfites to be on wine labels.

AFAIK, Italian law requires all _red_ wine's labels to inform if it contains sulphites. The law does not apply to white wines. Thereofre, a botte of Brunello bought in Italy and whoes label does report sulphites has no sulphites (or the producer can be denounced to the Nas). Ue is currently working on a resolution that will foce all member countries to issue laws in order that allelabeles will have to declare the presence of sulphites.