Hello, I’m Elizabeth or “Elizabetta” as my Italian friends call me here in Italy.

I hand select or design every item you see in this store – a collection of the finest quality Italian shawls and scarves in the world. Every new season I buy directly from small manufacturers where I live in Italy, photograph the scarves and then offer them for sale on my website. Why do I buy from small manufacturers in Italy?

I have always worn scarves and shawls. I love the way they can change and accent any outfit. I love the way quality fabrics feel and look. I love colors and textures and pretty patterns, and I love Italian design.

I was born in New York and then raised in London and Rome. Italy is now my permanent home; I live in the central part, on the Adriatic coast in a little-known region called Le Marche on an organic lavender and olive oil farm. You can learn more here: www.lavandablu.com.

As an interior designer and color specialist in Madison, Wisconsin (where for 21 years I raised my children), we came to Italy as often as we could afford to. Here I would get design inspiration and insights into new color trends, products and styling for my clients.

On one of these trips, we stayed along lake Como, where I discovered that the area was world-famous for its high-end textile industry, especially silk and finished fashion accessories: scarves, shawls, men’s ties, bowties and so on. I was so taken by the quality and beauty of the Como silk that I decided to start a web shop selling these beautiful items.

Large industrial factories in other parts of the world are rapidly replacing the small, quality textile plants. The big guys often use exceptionally cheap labor, material, dyes, etc. and they make enormous quantities of the same style, styles that are mostly cookie-cutter styles. I get solicitation e-mails daily from enormous factories offering huge numbers of scarves at unbelievably cheap prices, and I mean really “cheap”.

In Italy it’s different…

Most textile plants and accessory manufacturers are still owned by the same families who started them. Labor is anything but cheap in Europe. Styling is done by people who are passionate about style and fashion, attending events and seminars all over the world. Fabrics and materials are of the highest quality, and production is small…as the fashions change every season in true Italian style.

Since I buy directly from the manufactures I’m able to sell scarves and shawls at prices that are considerably less than you will find anywhere else. These manufacturers are the very same who produce the highest-end designer textiles. Elizabetta is a small family company, there are no middle men, buyers, etc. that all need to be paid, increasing the price of an item. In other words, you get high quality at very reasonable prices.

I believe in (and am passionate about) quality and the exceptional people who produce quality items. I would much rather eat one fabulous ice cream a week, made locally with top quality ingredients, than eat mediocre, factory-made ice cream every day.

A high-quality scarf will last a lifetime if cared for properly. I still wear a gorgeous silk shantung scarf that was my mother’s before I was born, and also a silk fringed scarf that was my grandmothers, before my mother was born!