Italian for 'wash & fold'
 

I am booking an apartment in Rome, Florence & Venice.
My question is what Italian chains of launderettes offer wash & fold and what is the Italian for this type of launderette.
Our apartments will have washing machines but I do not want to spend an hour waiting for a wash to be done & then dry it. I also do not want to spend time in a launderette either.
Thanks everyone.
I have researched most of our trip from reports here & most of my questions have been answered by looking at reports & responses I have read.

Hello john, the Italian words for laundries that wash, dry and fold your clothes is lavanderia.

I don't know the name of any chains however.

If you wish most places will iron anything you want ironed if you request it.

I have found most people in the laundries do not speak English but somehow you can communicate what you wish to have done.

You didn't ask but the laundries are expensive so you might want to find out the cost before you leave the laundry with them.

I have found it usually takes two days before the laundry is ready to be picked up.

Have a wonderful time in Italy!

You should be able to drop them off at any lavanderia or blancisseria and just say "per il lavaggio e piega, per favore." (At least I think that's right - I haven't used that term in Italy for years, so someone correct me if that's not it).

Thanks for the quick reply - I will now be able to research them out. After the wash & folds in America we hardly ever do washing on holiday now.

It sounds right to me St.Cirq. If not "perfect" it still communicates what the customer wishes be done to the laundry.

Hi John - Most places charge per item rather than per load if I remember correctly, so this could work out quiite expensive - make sure you get a quote beforehand.

Steve

Yes, you will spend a small fortune. Charges are per item and are VERY steep. I once spent more on getting clothes washed and folded than I had on the clothes to begin with.

My experience of the wash & fold abroad has taken yet another nose dive.

The lavanderia - Lucia, Vicolo Delle Vacche 17 near Piazza Navone, Rome shrank every item of clothing we gave them. I had shown the owner the 40 degree max washing label & he said he would do a good job. The wash was not ready when I went to pick it up & an hour later when it was ready & I examined it, every item had shrunk. Some items were brand new whilst others were up to 2 years old. No compensation & no refund & no speake english.

The concierge in Florence brought back our washing wet.
I ended up doing the wash at the lavarapido ourselves in Florence & then in the apartment in Venice - we were in the process of washing the apartment towels at 9.00 am when the owner cut off the electric to encourage us to leave promptly at 10.00am.

Below is my response to a fellow fodorite who asked about laundry in Rome awhile back. Our hotel was near the Piazza Navona. This may be the laundrymat that Johngerard is talking about. Fortunately, our clothes didn't shrink.

Reprinted post from last year:

We stayed at the Residenza Canali a few weeks ago, and Stephan at the front desk directed us to a laundromat a few blocks away. (I can't begin to give you directions, but Stephan can point it out on the map. If you don't find it at first, wander around the streets - you'll come across it. It is on a little side street near kind of a busy street).

The man running the laundromat is not very friendly - we had the impression that if we were one minute late returning after 30 minutes our laundry would be piled in the street, but he did get the job done. We dropped off our clothes, putting them in the machines ourselves. He puts in the soap and turns on the machines. 30 minutes later, you come back, he opens the washing machine doors, throws a plastic basket at you and you take out your wet clothes. Then he points to which dryer to use, and you put your clothes in. He will turn the dryer on for you. (He will yell if he thinks you are going to touch one of the buttons - let him do that part!!) I think a wash and dry was around 9 euros (including a scoop of soap).

We put in the laundry, went around the corner to a nice little cafe, sat for 29 minutes, then hubby went back to switch the clothes to the dryer, came back and drank wine for 29 minutes, then went and retrieved our clothes. Really pretty easy! We actually did laundry twice.


Have fun in Rome!

Lucia was a drop off & pick up not the self service you have used. The self service in Florence cost 3.50 for 30 minute token so we spent 7 euros for 2 wash loads & 7 euros for 2 dry loads.

If you want to look up lavanderie near your hotel, you can look at the yellow pages: www.paginegialle.it. I suspect many of the smaller places are not listed.