If you take the shuttle bus from Florence to the Barberino Designer Outlet it's a colossal waste of…read moretime and money. This outlet is not all that cheap to begin with. Most all of the stores in this outlet you can find in Florence. It costs almost 20€ per person to take the 30 minute shuttle ride to this place. So even if you do find some good deals here you have to take your -20€ into account. Yeah, there go your savings. Also this outlet is jam packed with a lot of westernized stores like Nike, Puma, Addidas, Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren and so on. With the euro conversion and limited selection U.S. citizens you're much better off buying this stuff back in the States. Don't waste your vacation time coming here, not worth it at all.

Barberino Outlet just 10 kms or so from Florence is one of the places I always visit while on…read moreholiday here. They have a whole bunch of great brands, but also many not so great ones. My favourites are Pinko, Patrizia Pepe, CK, Nike, Ralph Lauren and Levi's outlets. The prices are always somewhat discounted (I'd say atleast -30%), so you can be sure to make good deals here! However the best times are surely around summer and winter sales. To get there you should take the A1 motorway towards Bologna and get out at an exit called Barberino di Mugello. I have a feeling there are buses that go here too from the city centre of Florence.