Ah, to be rich in Bologna

So maybe you just won the lottery, or maybe your last name is Agnelli (founder of Fiat) or perhaps you’re a woman chummy with Berlusconi. Of course you might be living in Turin, Milan or Rome. But perhaps you really like Bologna – after all there’s a lot to like. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, where do you go? Well, I think that I have the answer. There’s no shortage of opportunities to lavish cash on overpriced items with a designer name. Just go to Piazza Minghetti and you can leave considerably poorer.

I had some time to walk around there while waiting to meet some people at the bus stop nearby. The first window that I looked into was Georgio Armani. Does anyone really need pants that cost 405 euros? I think not. But as long as you are in the mood the jacket goes for 2395 euros – that’s certain to impress your other rich friends. But wait, let’s move upscale a little bit. Across the street you find Gucci and Hermes where you can one-up your pals that settled for the 405 euro pants with those that go for 520 and 540 euros respectively. What is this, a contest to see who can price their stuff the highest? Of course the women are not to be outdone. The women’s pants in the Armani window go for 690 euros – women seem always to be charged more and what else to talk about during those boring afternoons at the spa? Of course you could opt for the jacket at a modest 1375 euros.

Want more? Well, I’ll tell you anyway. The relatively simple sweater at Dolce and Gabana goes for 375 euros. The shoes in the window of Miu Miu go for 395 euros. Of course for those that are on an economizing kick due to the slumping Italian economy you can always go to Emporio Armani (don’t breath a word about this) and pay only 200 euros for a pair of pants. Of course one must accessorize with a scarf that it seems that no respectable Italian would be without at almost any time of year with even a hint of chill in the air.

There are certainly riper opportunities to part with a “sacco di soldi” a pile of money. Louis Vuitton is there and don’t even post prices in the window as is usually the custom. As the saying about yachts goes, “ if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it”. There are other clothing shops with vertiginous prices; Fendi, Burberry, Yves Saint Laurent and numberous high end Italian designer that I’m unfamiliar with. But to really eat into the bank account there are Bulgari and Tiffany as well. I did find a one shop that liked.

But who wears this stuff. Maybe this is one?

Comments anyone?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 8:10 am and is filed under Culture, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.