American holidays in Italy are great for travel. Roads are empty and restaurants are reasonably crowded.. For Memorial Day, I hopped in the car with two friends and a three-year-old and we headed to the Northern Italian city of Nove. Nove is about 2.5 hours from Milan and the home to several ceramic manufacturers. We parked at the town square and found ourselves surrounded by ceramic shops and factories, honestly, there were probably 3-5 within a kilometer in each direction.
Our first stop was the ceramic museum which happened to be closed when we stopped by. Luckily, we asked for tourism information at the town hall and they volunteered to open up the museum for the four of us! It was a small museum but interesting and it was great to have it all to ourselves.
We popped into a factory store that was recommended by a town hall official. The tables and walls were covered in handpainted ceramics and I fell in love with a lamp painted with a black and white toile print. The price tag for the matching set was a bit intimidating so I carried on to the next stop.
At La Ceramica VBC, we truly hit the jackpot. They are the producers of earthenware for Tiffany & Co, Williams-Sonoma, Southern Living, and Lenox. The prices were out. of. control. Seriously. I picked up a serving platter made for Tiffany & Co for 22 euro. That translates to a little over $30 - a significant discount.
Of course, we didn't just come for American items at a discount. There was quite the market for Italian platters, dinner sets, vases, candlesticks...just about everything!
Below, you get a sneak peak of some of the things I purchased for myself (there were other items but they're gifts so it's a secret). The yellow and white item is a trivet. The yellow is quite vibrant in person and it's gorgeous. I also bought a black 3-pronged candlestick holder that I am newly obsessed with. Beautiful. Had I felt the urge, I could've bought a 12 place dinnerware set of amazing ceramic for under 30 euro.
Put this list for when you come to visit us - don't forget we can help you ship stuff back to the States!
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