Today we visited Starbucks and learned all about the roastery and how it works. This is the first Starbucks in Italy, which is a big deal because Italians take their coffee very seriously. The layout of the Starbucks was entirely different from any of the ones in the United States. It was really interesting to…
Category: Plus3 Italy
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Starbucks and Armani visits
The sun was back out today for our visits to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and the Armani museum. The Starbucks was massive with multiple counters selling sandwiches, pizza, baked goods, alcohol, expensive merchandise, and of course, coffee. They roast coffee beans in the store for their own use and also ship them to Starbucks across…
Milano: Day 5
We started the same as usual by convening in the hotel lobby prior to taking on the day. Our first stop was at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. This was a really neat experience where we got to evaluate an American brand thrive and prosper in Italy while using a new business model. The addition of…
Dinner by the water!
Ciao! Today was our tour of the Milan university Cattolica which strayed from the typical dynamic of schools that we see in America. After an early morning breakfast, our group headed over to the university for a fashion and sustainability presentation headed by Francesca Romana Rinaldi. Her lecture covered how consumers’ newly found interest in…
Caffè, Armani, e Io
Today in Milano we toured the Starbucks Reserve Roasterie and the Armani Museum while also spending some free time in the city. The Milanese Starbucks itself is a story of perseverance and success, as the company, knowing how picky Italians are with their coffee, performed a year of market research before opening their location in…
Espresso & Designer
I was really looking forward to today because we got a chance to visit the Milan Starbucks Roastery, which is one of the companies I did research on prior to this trip, and also because we had a chance to visit the Giorgio Armani museum. I already knew a bit about the Milan Starbucks Roastery…
Starbucks & Armani Silos: Day 5
Our day began today with a company visit to the first Starbucks ever built in Milan. However, since coffee in Italy is so highly valued in Italy this American brand has altered their business model to reach their more sensitive and traditional coffee market. This Starbucks does not sell all the sugary altered drinks like…
Armani, Brera, & Coffee
On our way to the first ever Starbucks in Italy, I took the time to learn how to count to one thousand in Italian. Nolan was very patient, but by the time we stepped off the metro, I had it down pat (thanks Nolan!). Once in the Starbucks, which curiously had an unfamiliar logo, I…
Day 5: New Perspectives
Buonasera! I can’t believe it, but Italy finds new ways to amaze me each day. Today, we started with a company visit to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. I learned that this roastery is among five in the world, including locations of Shanghai, Tokyo, Seattle, and New York. Interestingly enough, this Starbucks location is the only…
Starbucks and Szforzesco Castle
This morning we took the metro from Hotel Sempione to the Milan district that contains the Duomo to visit the Starbucks Reserve Roasterie! This was our second site visit, but one I have been excited to do since we arrived! I mentioned in a previous blog post, that I was very excited to experience the…
Day 5 in Milan
Today’s adventure began early with a trip to the very first Starbucks in Italy. This location serves not only as a coffee shop, but as a roastery. We entered the magnificent building and immediately filed to the corner of the shop where we received a private demonstration with one of Starbucks’ products for making coffee…
Starbucks and Armani
Our day kicked off in Montenapoleone where we visited the first Starbucks ever built in Milan. This visit is different from all of the others because it is the only American company that we tour. In addition, Italians value coffee very greatly in their culture and this makes it difficult for an American company with…
Day Trip to Como
Today we visited the Mantero Silk company in the morning in nearby Como. Mantero is the company I was responsible for researching in our pre-departure meetings so it was very cool to finally see the company in person. First, we saw the open workspace that all the designers used to create new patterns for scarves,…
Day 4: Silk, Cuomo, Clooney!
The weather today was…interesting, to say the least! Our beautiful, sunny blue skies were wet and gray today. I didn’t pack a jacket for this weather, so I spent the day bundled up in my jean jacket. We took an hour long bus ride to Como, where we visited Mantero Seta, or the Mantero Silk…
Day 4: Trip to Como
Today was the first company visit and our first time leaving Milan. In the morning, we travelled on a coach bus to Como. Our first stop was at Mantero, a silk producer. Our tour started in a design room, where designers were creating new projects and splitting completed projects into individual color channels for printing…
Day trip to Como
Hello again from Italy!!! Today I am writing not from Milan but from Lake Como, where we visited a silk company called Mantero! This company manufactures silk fabrics for luxury brands and also uses some of their products to create finished accessories to sell. Because they mainly only create fabrics, they do not create dresses…
Lago di Como e Mantero Seta
Oggi, we travelled north to Como, where we were given a tour of Mantero Seta, Lago di Como (where George Clooney lives), and the town of Como. Mantero Seta is a family-owned silk company that has been in operation since its founding by Riccardo Mantero in 1902. The company designs and produces textiles for luxury…
Coma after Como
Today, the group made it to our first company tour in Italy! We spent our morning at Mantero Seta, a manufacturer of silk fabric, scarves and accessories with unique drawings inspired by an antique textile archive. Our chic tour guide was Francesca Tongiorgi, the head manager of the corporate communications department at Mantero. She explained…
Day 4: Soaking in Como
Day trip to Como! I had heard so many wonderful things about Como before coming to Italy, so I couldn’t wait for our trip there. After only about an hour on the bus, we arrived at the our first site visit of the trip: Mantero Seta, a silk company located in Como. At Mantero, they…
A Rainy Trip to Como
Today was the first of many site visits, and it did not disappoint. The Mantero Silk company is one of the various silk companies nestled in the greater Lake Como region and supplies materials to many big name brands such as Gucci, Louie Vuitton, and Channel. We began our day touring their factory which employs…