Piemonte Italia

Outlet

How to resist that very expensive apple green handbag? How can one pass up the umpteenth pair of shoes? Reading the back cover of Sophie Kinsella’s bestseller “I Love Shopping” would make poor Marx roll over in his grave thinking that the true opiate of the masses in the third millennium is shopping. “It’s globalization, baby”. In recent years shopping has determined a sharp rise in social change and spending and, notwithstanding the economic crisis, outlets keep on being full of shoppers.
The first ones were opened in the US at the end of the 19th century and by the 1970’s were called “factory outlet centers” or designer label citadels overflowing with discount prices on designer collections. Is it for real? People think so and the masters of the commercial market believe it as well. So much so that these outlets are strategically placed along highway junctions. Sociologists explain that they are gathering places in which the social function is united with a commercial one. Outlets arrived late in Italy, but the Piemonte region is in the lead. In 2000 the largest and most scenographic “outlet village” in Europe was inaugurated at Serravalle Scrivia in the province of Alessandria. 35,000 square metres, 180 stores and over 20 prestigious brand names. Like an amusement park for merchandise, organised in theatrical “wings”: a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland. The outlet’s “kitsch” décor – even if a bit extreme - keeps what was once one of Italy’s characteristics alive: the piazza as a gathering place, where you get up to date and communicate with people. Over 20 million people have come through Serravalle Scrivia, converting the small town into a magnetic tourist attraction.
But for those whom, like Kinsella, are on the constant quest of commercial seduction, the Piemonte region also offers the Mondovicino Outlet Village. Located in an enviable landscape, the Lower Langa area, the same one celebrated not long ago by Pavese and Fenoglio, facilities dedicated to wellness, bars and restaurants accompany a vast commercial proposal. A world that caters to the “family” where everyone, old and young, can find whatever it is that enthuses them: from mini golf to Turkish baths. The Vicolungo Outlet is only a few kilometers from Lago Maggiore (a traditional tourist destination since the last century), not far from Novara. Shopping fans can find a way to satisfy their desire thanks to a wide selection of prestigious stores that range from clothing to cosmetics in places conceived to spend a day shopping in a fun and relaxing way with the entire family.