We know that visiting the markets, second hand shops and vintage dealer’s warehouses will be a memorable part of your La Dolce Vita: Antiquing Edition 2025 experience.

Here’s a short recap of our plans:

We will visit two large-scale markets: the Lucca antique market, followed by the Siena weekly market on a different day. The two Tuscan markets will have vastly different offerings, affording attendees a look at two different Italian market styles.

SIENA WEEKLY MARKET

The Siena weekly market is where locals go to purchase food and reasonably priced clothing, shoes and household items. While there will be the odd booth selling second hand clothes and housewares, for the most part this market offers new items. If you’re a fan of Italian linen, this is the place to pick up tops, dresses and pants at prices that are difficult to match at home. In fact, we joke that “shop ’til you drop” was invented for a favorite linen booth.

In addition to clothing/shoes/housewares, there is also a small food section where you can see Italian Nonnas choose cheese, fresh vegetables and meats for their table and shopkeepers call out their offerings hoping to attract buyers to their stall.

After visiting the Siena weekly market in the morning, attendees will be able to explore the city on their own to enjoy the local sights and have lunch before rejoining the group.

Siena is, undoubtably, one of the jewels of Tuscany. Famous because of its beautiful architecture and the Palio horse race that takes place twice each summer in the “Il Campo” square, it’s a town full of photo ops and pretty vistas. Yet, amongst the typical tourist shops and fashion stores, you will also find a thriving local community who call the city home and welcome the influx of tourism dollars to their city coffers.

ANTIQUE MARKET

For antique lovers and vintage loving vixens, there is nothing like shopping the antique markets of Europe and your week at La Dolce Vita will include a visit to one! At the markets, you are typically able to find linens, jewelry, porcelain, silverware/kitchen implements, and bric-à-brac galore!

At the September 20-27, 2025 La Dolce Vita week, we will visit the Lucca antique market. Lucca lies approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes from our home base. A beautiful medieval walled town, in addition to the antique market you will find quaint cafes, beautiful churches and a photo op around every corner as you wander through the town.

Here’s an idea of what to expect from the Summer in Italy website:

“Lucca hosts the region’s second biggest antique market. Its strength (shared by many other Tuscan towns) lies in its setting among the town’s lovely streets where bread chests, cupboards, bedside tables, armchairs and hundreds of other objects are on display, where even a new object looks like a valuable antique. In addition to furniture, you can find XIX-century linens, vintage postcards, antique china and World War I memorabilia.”

In addition to visiting the markets, we will also visit a few “top secret locations”, these are dealer warehouses, and second hand stores that will reward us with some veritable treasures!

Should you end up purchasing more treasures than will fit into your suitcase, we will be including a visit to a shipping company at the tail end of our week so that you can mail goods home.

* Please note, if you are in the market for large pieces of furniture, we will not be able to coordinate container shipping, although we can recommend a company to you. Additionally clients are required to be aware of their home country’s import procedures if they are planning on shipping or bringing commercial goods home. *

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BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

For those who want to soak up every antique market opportunity that they can, we invite you to join us after the retreat for an optional two day add-on (Sept 27-29, 2025) as we journey north from the province of Tuscany to the capital of Lombardy, Milan, to shop the Naviglio Antique Market with us!

Immediately post retreat, we will take a private bus from our retreat base to the Milan city center where we will stay at a boutique hotel that is like a small jewel box with layers of beauty, a phenomenal buffet breakfast, and a location that is a market shoppers dream.

However, before the market, we will have the chance to explore the heart of the city for a few hours Saturday evening, after our arrival. Typically our retreat attendees seek out the Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, two of the most popular and photographed landmarks in the city.

Pricing will vary based on the number of clients who choose to add this extension. Based on previous experience, we expect that the ballpark add on price will be between €450-650 euros based on double occupancy. Once we know how many clients plan to add the extension, the precise cost will be disclosed before clients are asked to commit.