Shopping on Corso Mazzini, Cosenza

Originally posted on October 4, 2008 @ Calabrisella Mia

When you want to do a little bit of shopping in the city of Cosenza, one of the best places to go on a nice day is Corso Mazzini. It has pretty much anything you could possibly want in a shopping trip - restaurants, cafes, stores, tourism agencies, and currency exchange offices. So, when we decided do a little shopping, Cosenza (specifically Corso Mazzini) seemed like a good place and it's not too far from our little town of Carpanzano. Cosenza, used to be about 45-50 minutes from Carpanzano however, since the construction of the autostrada a few years ago, it has shortened the distance making the trip to Cosenza anywhere from 25-30 minutes (depending on how fast you like to drive).

Since temperatures in Italy in August can get pretty high, we opted to go first thing in the morning when the temperatures were a bit cooler. The reason being, Corso Mazzini is like one big outdoor shopping mall very similar to Toronto's Yorkville district only much bigger and with fewer cars. Corso Mazzini was restructured so that all traffic would be closed off making it a pedestrian only area. As you shop along the Corso Mazzini towards Piazza Bilotti, you will gaze upon a wide range of art sculptures that make up the "Museo all'aperto Bilotti" or the open-air museum. An art collector named Carlo Bilotti donated all these beautiful sculptures to the city of Cosenza before he passed away in 2006.

Some stores you will find on Corso Mazzini: Zara, Foot Locker, Bata Shoes, Swarovski, Carpisa, and as well as many other stores selling your favourite Italian brands.

If you can, try to visit Corso Mazzini during the week and earlier on in the day because the weekends tend to get very busy with both tourists and locals.