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When In Rome Do As The Romans Do.

Over the years I have grown increasingly fond of Italian shaving creams (and soaps).

Often they have a putty-like consistency and one manufacturer (Proraso) may call their product a soap, while others (Valobra, Cella, Figaro) call theirs a cream.
Most are almond scented, with the obvious exception of Proraso that comes in a strong menthol (some might say Vicks VapoRub) scent and a somewhat milder aloe/green tea variety.

Whatever the name, they are excellent products, and can be very cheap - if you only knew where to find them.

In Italy large supermarkets in the North American sense are few and far between. You could always try drugstores (in Italian: "farmacia" or "profumeria"), but your best bet are the larger "hypermarkets" in malls (centro commerziale) on the outskirts of larger towns.

On my last trip to Rome I found a large Auchan supermarket in a mall near Rome Fiumicino airport. The official name of the airport is now "Aeroporto Leonardo Da Vinci Roma" and the mall is located in the "Parco Leonardo".

It is the next stop (fare €1) on the local train from the airport into Rome, about 5 minutes from the airport and trains run roughly every 20 minutes, but DO NOT take the Leonardo Express, which would take you non-stop to the Stazione Termini downtown. Parco Leonardo is equally easy to find when you take the Autostrada from the airport towards Rome.

The mall opens 10 am and is open 7 days a week, which is not the norm in Italy. Once you get off the train, the mall is literally a stone's throw across the road.

The Auchan hypermarket stocks among other brands Noxema, Palmolive, Proraso and Figaro.
Palmolive shaving cream was available in "Classic" and menthol varieties.
Proraso was available in menthol and green tea both as shaving soap and pre-/after-shave cream. I had not come across the green tea pre-shave cream in the jar before (not yet shown on the Proraso website at this time) and quite like it after my shave, but there was also a liquid Proraso after-shave cream in a bottle available.
Figaro may be less known than Cella and Valobra, but Figaro shaving cream in the orange 150 ml tub is a bargain at €1.20 (or roughly $1.80). Because of the price I almost gave it a miss, but then I remembered having heard of this brand and bought two tubs to try. I am glad I did and I liked it so much that I went back the day before my return flight and picked up another two.

I also found two "profumerias" in this mall with Italian shaving creams, but Auchan appeared to have the better stock and better price.

Auchan is a French chain and has another 46 hypermarkets in Italy alone, so chances are you may find one somewhere near your location even if you are not staying near Rome Fiumicino.

So far, I have had no luck finding Valobra in stores in Italy, but with my latest cache I should be able to survive...



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No Cella, I'm afraid - another favourite of mine BTW.
I had hoped to find the small 150 ml tubs; the large 1 kg are not really meant for retail, but are usually sold to barber shops, I was lead to believe.

The closest substitute for Cella would be the Figaro 150 ml tub.


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