Furniture Makers in Brianza region, Italy

December 9, 2014 2:51 PM

Hi, My partner and I are going to Italy in a couple of weeks. We're going to spend 3 days in Milan. We are aware that Milan is great for shopping and we're definitely planning on visit some of the furniture showrooms in the city. But internet search also says the Brianza region right outside Milan has the greatest concentration of furniture shops in Italy. But I have a hard time figuring out logistics of visiting these shops.

My questions are as follows:
1. Do most of the factories in Brianza have showrooms? The showroom may not be attached to the factory, but is it possible that Brianza has certain shops that showcase brands not available in Milan?
2. If the factory doesn't have a showroom, how hard is it to arrange a visit to the factory and see their products?
3. Are the factories tend to be located near each other? I'm assuming we'll need to rent a car to get there, but how spread out is the area?
4. Is it difficult to drive in Italy compared to the US? We never drove in Italy before.

Any recommendations of specific shops would be greatly appreciated. We both like modern style furniture.

Thanks!

posted by wcmf to Travel & Transportation around Carate Brianza, Italy (1 answer total)

Unfortunately I don't have any idea regarding #1-3, but as far as #4...I remember when I was in Italy, it was difficult to rent an automatic car. So if you aren't used to driving stick shift it might be especially difficult to drive there. I don't have much experience with the actual roads around Brianza since I only drove on Sardinia. Though for what it's worth, even though I normally drive stick myself, I had a tricky time on some of the steep hills.
posted by Shadow Boxer at 5:20 AM on December 10, 2014