For those who enjoy meandering through the shops, the porticoes in the city centre have an array of fashion boutiques and specialist food shops but, for the true shopaholic the “Castel Guelfo outlet” is just a few kilometres from Castel San Pietro where there are 50 shops offering a range of haute couture, fashion and designer homeware stores all at discounted prices.

At the other end of the scale, the Montagnola market in Bologna operates every Friday and Saturday with stalls selling new and second-hand clothing, antiques and handicrafts.