antiques & junk shops
One of my favorite things to do is scrounge around at an antique market or junk shop. And although I’d happily find either one anywhere, here in Italy I love it even more as there are so many interesting (and usually old) objects to find. And when thinking of objects and unique pieces of furniture for the house I always am drawn by items that have a story behind them rather than just something new and massed produced from a home store. New and custom or handmade I can get behind and have planned to incorporate some of this of course into the house, but otherwise I’m searching for older pieces that I can alter in someway to fit in to the decor.
scenes this year at the market in Arezzo
One of the most famous antique fairs in Europe is less than an hour away in Arezzo. This town hosts the Fiera Antiquaria during the first weekend of each month and the entire center is transformed. Pre-covid the vendors lined the streets of the town and filled the main piazza. Some of my favorite times to go is in December when the holiday market overlaps as well and one can grab a warm cup of vin brulè while perusing the stalls. Now, since they reopened after lockdown, they are hosting in a large park just behind the cathedral so that it’s a bit more spread out and less crowds packing into narrower side streets. We have a bit of a routine which includes getting to the market in the morning and doing the first look-through, grabbing lunch at our favorite old-school osteria, l’Agania, and then returning to the stalls with anything we’d had our eye on, before ending the day with a coffee and pastry at the beautiful Caffe’ dei Costanti, made famous for a location in the film La Vita e’ Bella (Life is Beautiful).
Arezzo scenes pre-covid in the main Piazza and center streets
Besides this market, there is also a smaller monthly antique fair in Florence that we’ve frequented, and plenty of antique stores and junk shops in the area where we make regular stops in to see if anything new has arrived.
Since I don’t need too many big pieces for the new house in general, I’ve made a pretty concise list of items that I keep my eye out for. It helps to keep me focused and not tempted to buy things unnecessarily. Luckily I’ve slowly accumulated the old glass demijohns (usually used for storage of wine, oil, etc) that I need for the lighting fixtures that I’m having made for the dining table and kitchen island. Although the green thin-necked bottles are quite easy to find, these with clear glass and wide neck are much more rare. I wanted the larger necks so that a lightbulb can easily fit. It took over a year to collect these four (found in a few shops between here and Cortona) which I’m happy about and now will be able to take them to the local fabbri (blacksmiths) to build the fixtures around them.
Also, late last year at one of the winter markets in Arezzo I found 2 chairs which I love from one of my favorite vendors. They are brothers from Naples and usually bring up some interesting pieces from the south. These are from the 60s and came from a notaio’s office. That same day we also found this Arco-inspired lamp from the same era. I’d considered an authentic antique Arco that I’d found last year, but although they are a classic design staple, it’s honestly not my favorite look. I completely appreciate the functionality and simple design, but there is something about it that doesn’t naturally draw me in. And now that there are so many knock-offs I knew that I wouldn’t want a fake piece that was trying to copy the original. However when I saw this piece - which would obviously never be mistaken for an actual Arco because of the rounded arms, the smaller marble base, etc - I was attracted to it, I think exactly because it emulated the functionality without trying to be a copy.
Now I’ve started keeping my eye out for a few other lighting options as well as the main big item on my list - a vintage chesterfield! Plans are in the works to make our way to an area in northern Tuscany next month to where there is a collection of some great antique shops…(fingers crossed!)