Next weekend April 20/21 BBC World is running a travel program which includes something on Factory outlets in Italy. Look up www.bbcworld.com to find the program hours in your time zone.

Ian, will you summarize it for us Italophiles over here "across the pond" who don't have access to BBC?<BR><BR>Thank you!

I love factory outlets. There are good ones in Burlington-NC, Gatlinburg-Tenn, and Wytheville-VA.

What are Factory Outlets?

It was a bit disappointing as the part of the program dedicated to Italy (or more specifically Tuscany) covered the Dolce & Gabbana and Prada outlets (only!), taking the waters at Montecatini and Greve and thereabouts. The Greve subsection included the Macelleria Falorni, wine tasting at Castello di Verrazzano and getting a pair of shoes made at a place 10 minutes outside of the town - this place I don't know of: can anyone help on this?<BR>Discounts available at Dolce & Gabbana at 40-50% below Italian shop prices and 50-60% below UK prices and on top of this US residents can still get the sales tax back which takes almost 17% off the net price. Prada prices were stated as higher but the presenter wasn't that specific. But bargains are still to be found.<BR>This factory outlet business around Florence is becoming really big but there is a lot of imprecise and incomplete info flowing around. I have decided to produce a definitive listing of the main outlets giving all the info you may need including opening hours, telephone numbers, detailed maps etc etc. I will produce this in word format and expect to have the first version ready in about 10 days or so. If anyone is interested just email me direct and I will send it to you as soon as ready. Let me know if there are any specific names that interest you or any specific info you wish included. Once finished I will send it to Fodors themselves and maybe they will stick it permanently somewhere.

ciao ian<BR><BR>i guess this 10 minutes out of greve shoe factory is carlo fagiani in panzano. i once was there to pick up some shoes for someone. well..... i still prefer buying my shoes at st. cloud in figline valdarno. better service, nicer owner and good quality for a normal price. <BR><BR>tanti saluti<BR><BR>christina

while we're talking about this, anyone know of factory outlets near naples and/or rome?

while we're talking about this, anyone know of factory outlets near naples and/or rome?

FYI<BR><BR>Just checked the web site Ian gave and for those of you with digital cable, living in the Pacific time zone, the program is on at 8:30 pm, Saturday night.<BR><BR>j

Has anyone been to the Burberry outlet in London, and if so, were there any bargains?