The Shops of Citta Alta

Imagine a selection of shops with all you are likely to need within less than a half-mile stroll. Imagine that you get personal service in every outlet you visit. Imagine a traffic-free, unpolluted environment. Imagine a total lack of neon signs, garish advertising, noisy music and loudspeaker marketing. Imagine hand-crafted and home-made products available at “supermarket prices”. Am I hurting your brain? This nirvana cannot be imagined, let alone exist, can it?

Take a virtual stroll down the Via Gombito into the Via Colleoni with the aid of the pictures in this review. You can see the reality. Tiny shops, many of them 100’s of years old, clamour for your attention: grocers, greengrocers, salumeria, dairies, mens, ladies and childrens wear, shoes, stationery, bakeries, delicatessen, jewellers, craftsmen in wood, marble, furniture and glass. Not to mention cafes, winebars and even a 'pub’. Restaurants and churches all worthy of worship.

The buildings of the two tandem streets have been carefully preserved. Even shop fronts must conform with the historical design. They cannot be enlarged or merged to form department stores. There is no neon, no jutting shop signs, nothing lacking in taste.

This is Shopping Heaven. Here, even I can do shopping.