Arezzo Antique Market – How to Find the Best Vintage Treasures in Tuscany
Twelve tips for the Arezzo antique market in Tuscany: when to arrive, what to pick up, how to negotiate, and why the best find is rarely the planned one.
Once a month the historic centre of Arezzo fills with antiques. Furniture stands under the medieval arches, paintings lean against old stone walls, tables are covered in jewellery and silver, and there are boxes of things from somebody else’s life waiting to be gone through.
The Fiera Antiquaria di Arezzo has been running since 1968 and is regarded as Italy’s oldest and largest regularly held open-air antiques fair. It takes place on the first Sunday of every month and the Saturday before, and it spreads through Piazza Grande, the Logge Vasari, Piazza San Francesco and the streets around them. More than 500 exhibitors can take part, selling paintings, porcelain, watches, textiles, books, furniture and some wonderfully strange collectibles.
I live in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, so this is my local market. My 1990s Gucci sunglasses came from here, and so did my 1980s Ferragamo charm bracelet. But with hundreds of dealers and thousands of objects, how do you find the good pieces? My first piece of advice is simple. Stop shopping like a tourist and start looking like a hunter.
1. Don’t only look at the beautiful stalls
The perfectly styled stall in Piazza Grande photographs well, but it is not necessarily where the bargain is. Professional dealers know how to present their best pieces. The mirror hung at eye level has probably been researched, valued and priced to match.
I am much more interested in what is under the table. Look at the boxes on the floor. Look behind the furniture, at the pieces still wrapped in newspaper, inside the baskets and the drawers. At an antique market, curiosity saves money.
2. Arrive early, but understand why
Serious collectors arrive early because they want first choice. At Arezzo the hunt starts whilst the dealers are still setting up. As Discover Arezzo describes it, buyers are already searching as the goods come off the vans, and the negotiating goes on until Sunday evening.
If you are after something specific, a designer bag, particular ceramics, antique jewellery or an important piece of furniture, Saturday morning is the time to be there.
But there is another strategy. Come towards the end of Sunday. A dealer who has been standing there all weekend may be far more willing to negotiate than at 9am on Saturday. Especially if your purchase means one less heavy object to load back into the van.
3. Learn to touch things
Buying vintage online has trained us to look at photographs. A market asks for something different. Pick things up. Weight often tells you something about quality.
Feel the leather. Turn ceramics over. Open the handbag. Look under the chair and at the back of the painting. Check how a drawer has been put together. You begin to recognise quality through your hands.
Aged Italian leather feels completely different from cheap coated material. Old solid brass has a weight that many modern reproductions don’t have. That doesn’t prove age or authenticity. It tells you to look further.
4. Don’t be frightened by dirt
One of the biggest mistakes vintage shoppers make is confusing dirty with damaged. They are not the same thing. Dust comes off. Brass can be polished. Leather can often be conditioned, and wood can sometimes be waxed. Old fabric may only need careful cleaning. Silver tarnishes, and it polishes back up. I polished the silver on my Gucci sunglasses myself.
A neglected object may be your opportunity, because other shoppers can’t picture how it could look. Damage is different. Cracked ceramics, severe woodworm, broken joints, badly split leather and heavy restoration all change what a piece is worth.
You need to learn the difference between patina and destruction. Sometimes 30 minutes of careful cleaning transforms a piece. Sometimes no amount of restoration makes it worth buying.
5. Look for Italian craftsmanship, not only famous names
Everyone recognises Gucci, Prada and Bottega Veneta. That recognition usually comes with a price. What I find far more interesting at Italian markets are the beautifully made pieces carrying a name you have never heard of.
Italy has generations of leather workers, ceramicists, silversmiths, furniture makers and textile producers whose work can be superb with no luxury logo attached. Turn things over and look for clues:
- Made in Italy, Firenze, Toscana.
- Murano, Deruta, Bassano.
- Handmade markings and workshop stamps.
- Silver hallmarks.
- Old labels and manufacturer’s plaques.
Research can come later. At the market, you are training your eye.
6. Never assume old means valuable
Arezzo has wonderful things. It also has a lot of ordinary old things. Something can be 80 years old and still be worth very little, whilst an unusual piece from the 1970s or 1980s may be very much wanted today. Age alone is not enough.
Think about craftsmanship, condition, scarcity, design, provenance, and whether people actually want to own it. Most of all, ask yourself one thing. Would I still want this if nobody told me it was valuable? If the answer is yes, you are already buying better.
7. Antique markets are about relationships
Don’t open every conversation by trying to get the price down. Talk to the dealer. Ask where the piece came from, how old it is, what they know about the maker, and whether they have anything similar. Italian antique dealers often know far more about their stock than the small handwritten label suggests.
And once you are talking, they show you the pieces you hadn’t seen. Another handbag under the table. Another painting in the van. Another ring in a case. What is on the table is not necessarily all there is.
For me it starts with curiosity and with conversations. I truly believe that the items find me.
8. Negotiate, but don’t insult the seller
Yes, you can negotiate at Arezzo. No, that doesn’t mean offering €20 for something marked €100. If I like a piece, I ask: “Qual è il miglior prezzo?” What is your best price? Let the seller move first.
If a piece is €120 and they say €100 straight away, you know there is room, and you can decide whether €90 is a reasonable counter-offer. Buying several things from the same dealer gives you more room still.
And remember that a bargain is not measured by how much you knocked off. Paying €70 for something worth €300 is a bargain. Paying €30 for something you never wanted is €30 wasted.
9. Carry cash
Italy has moved more and more towards card payments, but an antique market is one place where I still prefer cash. It makes small purchases easier and it can simplify the negotiating.
But don’t wave hundreds of euros around whilst explaining that €10 is absolutely your limit. Have smaller notes on you.
10. Photograph before you walk away
You see something you love. You decide to have a little think. Twenty minutes later you want it. Now where was it?
The market spreads through streets, squares and arcades all over the historic centre, and it is surprisingly easy to lose a dealer. Take one photograph of the piece and another of the stall or a landmark beside it. Better still, ask the dealer for a business card. There is nothing worse than spending an hour looking for “the man with the amazing green lamp”.
11. Measure before buying furniture
A huge Tuscan sideboard looks magnificent under the Logge Vasari. Then you get it home and it doesn’t fit through the door.
If you are seriously shopping for your home, keep the measurements on your phone: door widths, ceiling height, the wall space you have, the size of the car boot. And carry a small tape measure. It may be the least glamorous thing you take to an antique market, and possibly the most valuable.
12. Your best find may be something you never intended to buy
This is why I love Arezzo. Going with a list is sensible. Going with blinkers is not. You might arrive looking for a mirror and leave carrying a ceramic leopard. Or a 1970s Italian lamp you didn’t know existed, a vintage handbag, a painting, a silver bracelet, or a ridiculous chair that becomes the whole personality of a room.
Online shopping gives us exactly what we search for. Markets give us what we never knew we wanted.
The real secret to shopping Arezzo
Don’t rush. The Fiera Antiquaria di Arezzo describes itself as a meeting point for antiques, modern antiques and vintage objects, but the setting is half the experience. Piazza Grande, the Logge Vasari and the medieval streets are the backdrop to all of it.
Have a coffee. Walk one section. Stop for lunch. Go back and look again. Things you ignored at 9am can become interesting at 3pm.
And don’t get obsessed with proving you have found the bargain of the century. The best vintage purchase is often something beautifully made that gives you enormous pleasure, and that you could never have found in a department store. That is why I keep going back.
Visiting the Arezzo antique market
The Fiera Antiquaria is normally held in Arezzo’s historic centre on the first Sunday of each month and the Saturday before. Check the dates with Discover Arezzo before you travel, particularly if you are planning a trip around one weekend.
