283 Best Places to Shop in Italy

Since taking the reins, creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli has faced numerous challenges, the most basic of which is keeping Valentino true to Valentino after the designer's retirement in 2008. Piccioli served as accessories designer under Valentino for more than a decade and understands exactly how to make the next generation of Hollywood stars swoon. Valentino fills most of Piazza di Spagna, where the designer lived for decades in a lovely palazzo next to one of the multiple boutiques showcasing his eponymous designs with a romantic edginess—think studded heels or prêt-à-porter evening gowns worthy of the Oscars. Rock stars and other music lovers can also have their Valentino guitar straps personalized when they buy one at this enormous boutique.

Gifted seamstresses (and seamsters) should look no further than this place, which sells sumptuous silks, beaded fabrics, lace, wool, and tweeds by the meter.

One of Naples's oldest traders, operating since 1850, the chic salon of this most exclusive contemporary jewelry workshop sells the original designs of its gifted artisans.

Run by flamboyant Donatella Versace and known for its rock-and-roll styling, the first store of this fashion house opened on Via della Spiga in 1978, and its latest flagship is inside the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

Run by flamboyant Donatella Versace and known for its rock-and-roll styling, the first store of this fashion house opened on Via della Spiga in 1978, not far from its current location in the Quadrilatero della Moda shopping district.

Versace's Rome flagship is a gem of architecture and design, with Byzantine-inspired mosaic floors, futuristic interiors with transparent walls, and merchandise that has a sexy rocker-Gothic-underground vibe. Here you'll find apparel, accessories, and home furnishings in designs every bit as flamboyant as Donatella and Allegra (Gianni's niece).

Family-run and operated, this shop sells beautifully handcrafted leather items just down the street from the Basilica of San Lorenzo.

Merano's narrow, arcaded main shopping street runs west from the cathedral. Here you can find regional products—wood carvings, Tyrolean-style clothing, embroidery, cheeses, salami, and fruit schnapps—alongside standard clothing-boutique stock.

This shop makes good use of silver and coral in its cameos, rings, necklaces, and bracelets. They also sell fancy designer watches. 

The owner of this shop specializes in discovering the best wines from across Italy. During the fall you can taste the latest wines, and all year you can purchase your favorities and have them shipped home. You can even buy futures for vintages to come.

A ghost of its former self, Vucciria—whose name translates to "voices" or "hubbub"—was once the most vibrant market in Palermo, memorably captured in Renato Guttuso's canvas of the same name (now exhibited in Palazzo Steri). It is now reduced to barely more than a single street and piazza. It takes on more of a street food atmosphere at night, when no-name bars open to sell cheap cocktails to the crowds gathering around the smoking grills that are wheeled outside after dark.

Trendy Zara, part of a Spanish chain known for its cheap-and-hip fashions, delivers the goods at a reasonable price.

Owned by antiques dealer Pietro Maria Zotti—who has worked for more than 40 years in the trade—this always-changing shop has fascinating finds from Venetian artworks to stylish midcentury furniture, plus lots of smaller, more affordable items, including books, prints, jewelry, militaria, and coins.