Venice > Mesttre-Marghera > Photos > Shopping

Shopping in Mestre

From: Introducing Mestre-Marghera

As a tourist, you'll probably do most of your shopping in Venice's historic center, but Mestre is no slouch in the shopping department: It has a good range of boutiques in all price ranges, including such familiar brands as Sephora, Sisley, and Benetton (whose world headquarters are nearby in Treviso).

Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II may be more famous, but Mestre has a perfectly serviceable equivalent: the Galleria G. Matteotti on the Piazza Battisti.

Coin, the Italian department store, has a branch in an enclosed mall on the Piazzetta Coin in the center of town. ("Coin" is Italian for "Cohen," not a reference to pocket change.)

Other major tenants of the mall include H&M, a Pam supermarket in the basement, and Darty, an electronics and appliance chain.

• Tip: Looking for a WC? Try the free public restrooms upstairs in the mall, where you'll also find a pint-size toddlers' play area with rides that require coins of the metallic variety.

If you're a computer linguist with a taste for toiletries, be sure to visit the Unix Profumerie in downtown Mestre.

Finally, the Hellovenezia office on Via Verdi, near the Piazza Ferretto, sells ACTV vaporetto and bus tickets, ACTV tourist travel cards, Rolling Venice youth discount cards, maps, and concert or opera tickets.

Office hours are Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Arrive no later than half an hour before closing if you're buying an IMOB or Rolling Venice card.)

Next page: Piazza Ferretto

About the author:

Durant Imboden has written about Venice, Italy since 1996. He covered Venice and European travel at About.com for 4-1/2 years before launching Europe for Visitors (including Venice for Visitors) with Cheryl Imboden in 2001.

PC Magazine has called this "the premier visitors' site for Venice, Italy." Over the years, it has helped more than 30 million travelers. For more information, see About our site, our Europe for Visitors press clippings, and our reader testimonials.