Leather or pottery shopping
 

Has anyone found good shopping for leather purses or pottery? Is the leather artisan shop in Florence worth it? What other items are good for shopping---Rome, Florence, Siena, Perugia,Assisi,Orvioto.

If you are talking about the leather shop in Santa Croce here is our experience. First you have to pay about $8 for two to get into the church. They have some nice take home gifts like coin purses for 3E or leather bracelets for 5E which are labeled. I was looking for a wallet but they were 40-50E. Everything else was quality and priced as such.They do have a sale room
We did not see much to buy in the old town of Perugia but several good lunch spots.
Money buys anything in Rome. The Vatican Museum had some reasonable "jewelry"

There's a good leather market in Florence. Be prepared to bargain.

In Florence I liked the pottery at Ceramiche Arte Crete on Via del Proconsolo, 63r. It's about 2 blocks from the Duomo.

Florence is leather purse shopping heaven. But you don't need to know of any specific stores, just wander around. You can find everything from a few euro to purses that cost as much as a house. The San Lorenzo market is the largest but there are others. You can get things in the cheap to moderate range. I found a purse for 75€ at one stall and found the same one at another for €60 and got it for €50 so you do need to bargin. For much higher end stuff you need to go to a store - hundreds of them around.

I agree with Fairhope about the Santa Croce leather shop - nothing special that you can't get elsewhere (except for the cool history) - but the church is worth the entry fee so while you're there check out the market. There seem to be more leather stores in the streets around the Santa Croce church than in other areas of town (but they are everywhere, there's just more in that area).

Pottery shops are all over town. I didn't see any pottery I liked at the open air markets but there were plenty of shops everywhere with good quality and decent prices. For pottery though I've found as much or more of a selection in the smaller cities (I've actually bought pottery in all the cities you've mentioned except Rome). But for leaather purses Florence rules!