Bargain-hunting, Italian style

'What happened to your Italian adventure?' I hear you cry. Well, let me tell you, through the medium of clothes, what I got up to in the beautiful village of Preggio, Umbria.

It's a tough job but someone's got to do it!

We landed at Rome airport, perhaps still a little tiddly from the wedding we had been to the day before, only to find that Hattie's (Miss Magpie's gorge gal pal) suitcase hadn't made the same journey with us. Anger, fury and then hilarity (that'll be the booze) ensued. Needless to say Hattie, with no contact lenses, underwear, clothes, make-up etc. was not a happy bunny.

Rather than hit the chic shopping strips of Rome (my suggestion obvs) the boys decided we'd find something for Hattie to wear along the two and a half hour journey to Preggio. Err, ok!

But that they did.

Queue Italy's answer to Primark, TK Maxx, Homebase, JJB Sports all under one roof. You can imagine how UN-excited I was! But low and behold, I actually found some fabulous treats thanks to uber-cheap label, Project Donna:

All I can say is 3 EUROS!!! What an amazing bargain on this animal print, mesh trilby. I am totally in love.

You may think I've customized a granny's swimming cap (you know the ones I mean) to create this bikini, but I actually bought it like this... and I quite like it. I'm a sucker for fuchsia and at a price-tag of 14 Euros, well you can't go wrong, can you!

N.B. Must remember to only wear one bikini on holiday so I don't get ridiculous tan lines. Oops!

Once the bargain hunting had started I couldn't stop, so a few days later, at a pit-stop in a not-so-pretty town near Preggio (had to stock up on the vino somewhere!) I popped in to one of those shops you'd find on London's worst high-streets. I didn't have high hopes.

But look what I found:

It was love at first sight! How Lanvin is this? Everyone needs a white blouse every now and again, so there was no hesitation in snapping this beaut up - and at 9 Euros, who'd even bother to question it? So I hurried to the till, picked up the black version en route, and left 18 Euros poorer, but with a much richer wardrobe!

So thanks must go to the luggage handlers at Gatwick airport, who lost Hattie's case, forced us to stop at dodgy looking shops and who unknowingly made my shopping week!

Oh and before you ask, Hattie did get her suitcase back a couple of days into our holiday.

And we all lived happily ever after...