Importing From Italy Is What We Do Best

Next month Serena Italian Imports' staff is heading to Florence to see some Italian designers, order new merchandise, and check out a few showrooms. Once travel dates are chosen, and our day to day schedule starts to take shape, I get these fabulous butterflies inside; the excitement of returning to my beloved city of Florence overtakes me.


Tempered with that though, is the sadness of leaving my family for a week. Even though I know that everyone will be fine, and that they can all get by quite well without me, I still don’t love leaving them.

We’ve got some great appointments lined up: leather handbags at Gianni Chiarini, a day’s trip to Rovigo, near Venice, to see the Annalisa Miniutti handbag showroom, a morning at Angela Caputi for a new look at her stunning fashion jewelry and to see what next spring and summer’s jewelry will look like, a short train ride for a visit at the Tuscan glass IVAT showroom. And that’s just what we’ve planned so far!

In addition, you can be sure we will be doing our own personal shopping every possible minute, as well as taking lots of photos and videos to show you what’s happening on the streets of Florence.

I must get to my favorite museum in Florence, the Bargello, a stop I make every time I’m there, plus much more cultural activity still needs to be planned- not to mention get-togethers with dear friends, and restaurant plans. And- I get to speak Italian for a full week!

IVAT Tuscan Glass at SerenaImports.com

Sometimes I get so fixated on my clothes or my home being put together in neutral colors, that I forget how much excitement, lightness and happiness a splash of color from Tuscan glass can add to a table. I suppose that’s what we all had in mind when we saw these IVAT handmade glass bowls and platters in Milan at the Macef trade show. It was mid-January, the sky was grey, and we were indoors all day seeing Italian merchandise all around us.

Here’s a video put together by Serena Italian Imports, especially for you, so you can see the colors and gorgeous design of our IVAT collection:



We hadn’t been too familiar with the IVAT name before the show, and each day the show booth was so crowded, we hesitated to stop. Finally we did, and we’re so glad! Gorgeous, hand blown and hand-painted glass platters and decorative bowls that match, and are gorgeous! There’s a colorful set of IVAT Sinatra Harlequin Bowls, which work perfectly as glass ice cream bowls. They have been selling so well that we hope to even get to the IVAT showroom in the fall, in Arezzo, not far from Florence, to see what other goodies they have come up with. Can’t wait to get there.