Shipping furniture from Italy
 

I will be in Tuscany for a week this fall and hope to find some antique furniture (or even new furniture) to ship back home. Does anyone have experience with this? Do I need to fill a container? Are there local shipping agents? Thank you for any help in this area.

A goodly number of years ago I bought new furniture (desk, dining room table and chairs) in Copenhagen. It was all from one store and shipped by them in a 2X5X6 wooden crate. I had it shipped to a customs agent in Boston (live in central Mass) that I did business with who took care of customs duty and arranged pickup at the port and delivery to my home.

It was no different from my standpoint than buying at a local store. I would just want to be sure the vendor had experience and could arrange everything for you.

ttt

If you plan to purchase "antique" furniture be sure to get certification that it is at least 100 years old or older. That way you don't have to pay any customs duties. Anything younger is not considered "antique".

Curious

Most antique dealers have freight forwarders that both pack, ship and insure furniture to the states. Mine came in record time, about a month after I arrived back, everything was crated, and not a scratch, from Florence. If you deal with reputable dealers, I don't think you'll have any problems.