Yayoi Kusama on Display Downtown

In the heart of Padua, Louis Vuitton has brought the art of the famous Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. Her world  consists of obsessive dots.

What I like about this window display is that there isn't a single bag or Vuitton product in the composition. Just Yayoi.

The company is trying to bring this art to a new public that might not otherwise see it. For more about this mission, watch this video.

Selling Second Hand in Italy

It took me forever to find a few second hand shops in the Padua area.

I had grown up in the States, visiting them at least once a month. I pratically lived in clothes from there as a child. I found great, cheap and funky things as a teenager. Once at art college, I located some more objects to convert into art assignments such as a compound found-glass sculpture and a cigar box memory trove.

While living in New York City, I bought some odd evening wear.

Then I moved to Italy and these special stores didn't seem to exist.

Italians push through the latest fashions with new clothes and shoes to don every year. I wondered where all of last year's abiti and scarpe had gone? I could only see big yellow donation containers on some streets to explain their end. These are designed for donations to the poor. But what about people who don't want to spend full retail price, but aren't "officially poor"? What about getting furniture at rock-bottom prices, but not going to IKEA?

Finally I found my solution: Il Mercatino chain and a few other shops. I could start to peruse used wares again. It has come in very handy, especially since I have a house to furnish now.

After buying a few things, I also wanted to unload some other items from my closet and garage. I decided to sell in these venues. I started with clothes. But this is where things got culturally very different. They wouldn't accept half of the items! "They are out-of-fashion," the girl said. Even classic fully-lined wool pants were put into the pile of unacceptable merchandise. "Wow!" I thought, "Couldn't they be appropriate for a middle aged woman, perhaps?" No, either the cut was too wide for the pants or the sweaters too short. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to sell them. So I realized that even the second hand shops are quite trendy in Italy. You're supposed to be selling your clothes only a year after you buy them, while the styles are still fairly current.

In the end, I did unload some clothes. My funky hats were sold immediately. (Leopard-print and transparent vinyl are all the rage, I guess!) The others items are still waiting to find homes. Anyone looking for a violet wool jumper set from Benetton?

Italians take their clothes seriously, even at the second hand stage. Now I am taking a better look at Il Mercatino's fashion section. If I can buy a great jacket which retailed for Euro 150 last year at one of the big brand name stores and is being displayed on these racks this year at Euro 20, I would say that's a good buy!

The Latest Vending Machine

Although the best distributore might be the one pawning porno DVD's (click for my post), there's a new and enticing offer in giro (around): Gratta e vinci. Centro Giotto, the old-school shopping center in Padua has this machine perched outside the Auchan megamarket entrance. All those who remember late in the evening that they still haven't bought that possible winning ticket can rush here before 9:30 p.m. and get their fix, or rather, rub.

It may be interesting to note that this Gratta e vinci machine is directly across the street from the porno version. This section, Padua Est, seems to push fast-and-easy access to its citizens' vizi (bad habits).

My First List for Filling a House

'We like lists because we don't want to die'

In honor of Umberto Eco's new book release, The Infinity of Lists, and the exhibition he curated which is currently on display at the Louvre, I am writing my first list on my blog.

My husband are finishing the paperwork to buy our first house (or rather flat, in typical Italian living style). Since we have been renting a furnished apartment, now we need to buy EVERYTHING new. Here goes the basic list:

Sofabed
Coffee table
Chairs
Dining room table
Light fixtures
Full kitchen with appliances
Washing machine
Bedroom set
Wardrobes: at least 2
Shelving for house and garage
Chest of drawers
Desk for study
Bookcases
Lamps
Bathroom sink
Curtains for all rooms
Throw rugs
New door with lock


It feels quite overwhelming and the choices are limited given our small budget. I don't know how much I want my house to look like it's out of an IKEA catalogue.

Sales Season: The New Headline

Buon 2010!

The new year started with a bang, lots of rain/snow and now we are in the midst of the official sales season. For many cities, the official opening was the second day of the new year.

How can it be that every TV channel, radio station and newspaper make headline news of the sales season? I heard a report yesterday that there were lines lasting one hour to enter the outlets that have sprouted off of the highways around the country. Lines also have formed outside of the classic stores in the big cities like Rome and Milan. The news tells us how each family will spend about Euro 300/person on various clothing and sundries.

I thought Americans were crazy about sales, but the Italians may have beaten us at that game or are keeping in toe.

Many Italians are even flying to cities like New York just to take advantage of the great exchange rate (about $1.50= Euro 1) and go on a shopping extravaganza. Forget culture. Travel is for shopping!

What upsets me about many stores and their sales season is that they provide different merchandise when the signs advertise "30% off". I was once sold linens of an inferior quality that had been sent to the store only to be sold during the sales season. That wasn't a sale. That was just selling cheaper merchandise. I found out about this practice after the fact because I hadn't previously compared the before and after sale quality of the product.

Or there is the other trick: raise the original price 30% so your "sale" ticket seems like a good deal after the advertised discount. That ploy was discovered by the friendly journalists at Il Mattino di Padova last year regarding shoes in some upscale shops in the city center. How many other shops do the same, I wonder?

What I did find interesting this year was the introduction of 20% of certain items the week before the sales season, from Christmas to New Year's.

If you can wait and don't really need to buy anything at the moment, I suggest holding out until the sales discount becomes 50% in February. However you may not find the size or color you want.

Ski Slopes Open for Business

It's not even December yet and the ski slopes in the Cortina area have already been open for about 3 weeks. It's the beginning of what should be a very long and snowy winter in the Dolomites this year. For a look at the Faloria's slopes, click here.

Down in the Padana valley, at my house, preparations are under way for the winter season. This involves listing what needs to be bought like new gloves, ski poles and thermos, sharpening the crampons' points, practicing safety knot combinations and reading about interesting snowshoe and alpine skiing trails.

This is a picture of one mountain view from Monte Pore, which we climbed last season. We are looking forwarding to more of the same.

A Rainy Sunday with Nothing to Do

Could this be the best part about Italy? When it rains as hard as it is doing today in Padua, on a Sunday, you revel in nothingness. You don't want to get out of bed. You have no reason to get out of bed. Everything is closed anyway. (But actually that is not true the closer we get to Christmas.)

I started to appreciate this aspect of life when first living in Rome in 1992: the zen of doing nothing. It still continues almost unchanged in 2009, although a few more northerners try to be productive on Sunday by shopping when they can, since shops can sometimes have open hours on the Sabbath day.

In the US, Sunday became a fairly regular day when I was about 8 years old. All the shops were allowed by law to be open every day of the week that year. By the age of 16, I was even working on Sundays in the shops.

Upon arrival in the bel paese, that was distinctly not the reality here. Sunday was for church, relaxation, family lunches and/or walks in the city square or along the riverbanks. Maybe an ice cream cone could be eaten in the afternoon, but work or hard-core shopping was not part of the possibilities for that particular day of the week.

Now I follow my dog's cue and don't even want to step foot outside of the house. It's a glorious time to do nulla--

Piles of Money destined to a "Mountain" of Stuff

To prepare ourselves for our big trip to the top of Monte Rosa, scheduled for the end of July, my husband and I had to go on a shopping spree. We basically bought a ton of light-weight petrol products. Why do I say petrol? We need to wear technical gear designed for mountain use that protects against wind and water while allowing perspiration to escape through the same fibers. These wonder-fabrics are all made from polyester derivatives. And polyester = spun petrol.

The products are all light so they don't wear down your bags as you hike up the mountain. That is great for your back while on the trail but not so rewarding as you cart your pile of merchandise out of the store.

In this case, light and petrol does not equal cheap! No, dear. We are talking large chunks of change for even the smallest things.

We outfitted the husband from head to toe while I already had several clothing pieces in my stash from past ski trips while other things I will wait to buy next year. So far the list goes as such for the duo:


2 pairs extra-UV protection sun glasses
1 light-weight Montura shell
1 medium-weight Rady's shell
waterproof pant shell
1 pair of medium-weight Montura hiking pants
1 pair of approach and hiking shoes
1 pair of crampons
1 38-liter backpack
2 pairs of men's breathable underwear
2 pairs of hiking socks
2 compact fast-drying towels

The fashion show of our alpine shopping spree will be photographed at a later date.
The bill to be paid will be next month's entire paycheck, even after a 20% discount.

But what the hell-
Viva la montagna!

These petrol jewels just better not rip this season on any stray rock!