Kay

Any recommendations on the best towns/cities in Italy to buy corals and furniture?

carolyn

It's been a long time, but my daughter bought a pretty coral bracelet in Sorrento, and I won a small picture made of parquet wood in a furniture factory there. Also, a friend bought a parquet game table there and had it shipped home. It is beautiful and arrived in good condition.

Marilyn

Sorrento has several intarsia factories. It's beautiful inlaid wood furniture. M.

xxx

<BR>The years we don't travel to Europe, we go snorkeling on coral reefs in various parts of the tropics, so I have a great appreciation of the incredibly beautiful and fragile ecosystems that are coral reefs. Almost all are threatened to some degree. For example, Mediterranean corals were wiped out by overharvesting so many years ago that any coral you buy in Italy will almost certainly have come from somewhere in the Indo-Pacific (like the Philiplines) where coral habitats are being annihilated rapidly. <BR><BR>That is why although I don't want to preach, I can't help but ask if you understand that when you buy coral jewelry, you are supporting a trade that is actively destroying the remaining coral reefs?<BR><BR><BR><BR>

Nancy

I have a friend who is a jeweler who spent two weeks in Italy in September. She said all the coral she saw was fake. She said it was hard even for her to tell the difference between real and fake coral. So in addition to the valid environmental concerns expressed above, there is a good chance that the coral you would buy would be fake.<BR><BR>As for furniture, I can't recommend a particular place, but would note to you that it is very expensive to ship furniture internationally; plan on paying about the same cost to ship a piece of furniture as it does to buy it. Remember also if you are a US citizen that you will have to pay custom duty on the furniture when it arrives.

richard j vicek

Good morning, Kay Did visit a cameo<BR>facory at Torre del Greco a number of years a go and did purchase some excellant peices at a shop of Giovanni<BR>Apa, in Rome., beleive that they also<BR>have shops elsewhere..<BR>Richard of LaGrange Park, Il..

richard j vicek

Good morning again, Kay Go into<BR>www.giovanniapa.com, its a web site for<BR>the cameos of Torre del Greco.<BR>Richard of LaGrange Park, Il..

mel

For furniture you will find beautiful stores in Milan and near Como. Try www.vago.com in Barlassina.

NOTREEHUGGERS

I hate it when someone asks a question and then you get some tree hugger making stupid statements that DO NOT ANSWER THE ORIGINAL QUESTION.

Jan

Kay,<BR>There is a two lane road just South of Verona that is known for antiques. Many of the shops are on the internet. We have shopped this road and there are some really interesting pieces. 17 and 18th C. But,there is a high incidence of fakes. If you know your antiques or just really like a piece, it shouldn't be a problem. I will try to find the websites that I used with the specific road information.<BR>Good luck,<BR>Jan

Xenos

It's sad that somebody who expresses a little concern for our environment gets flamed as a &quot;tree hugger&quot;. XXX may not, strictly speaking, have been answering the original question, but he/she hardly deserves to be accused of making stupid statements for pointing out the damage that people cause by encouraging the further exploitation of endangered species and non-renewable resources.