Ciao Ciao Soldi

Designer Outlets that look like a village. A very, very expensive village.

We decided to venture outside of Florence this afternoon in search of a bargain. On the whole, I was underwhelmed. Some of the stores were nice, but not that cheap. Some were cheap, but not that nice. Others made it impossible to distinguish the men's section from the women's. Jean Paul Gaultier was particularly difficult, as everything has a plastic sheen to it, with lots of bedazzling and other French nonsense. I'm sorry, but if I want a pair of jeans, I want jeans. Not the lower half of a Mardi Gras costume.

The Lindt store was by far and away the highlight. They had HUGE tubs of chocolates, 15 different types of truffles, all other types of bars and bite sized pieces. You throw them all in a bag and pay for it by the pound. My head was spinning. I was literally a kid in a candy store. Again, and expensive candy store. Extra dark chocolate, chocolate mousse, espresso, even champagne flavored. The person who first thought to put alcohol in chocolate was a genius. It was seriously tempting to buy some to bring home for the family, but then I realized that there's a Lindt store in New York.

My only other purchase was an AC Milan Jersey. Original price? 80 euro. How much did I pay? 20 euro. Score. And it's a long sleeve jersey. Double score.

Ciao Bella

Matteo "Chocolate Coma" Yazge