San Giorgio doesn’t have many shops. However, we are well served with grocery shops – Angela’s across the street, Luanna’s up the road, and a small Conad supermarket towards the garage.
Further afield we are spoilt for choice – Auchan a French chain and so the only place to get creme fraiche, A&O an Italian chain who have a good wine selection including Australian wine if one tires of Italian wine, Eurospin another Italian chain who, according to a regular customer from San Giorgio, is really great for paper products. The same source let us know that the best sausages in San Giorgo are in Luanna’s on a Tuesday when a local producer brings them in fresh.
Finally, there is our favourite supermarket the IperCoop. Growing up in Northern Ireland one of the first things I learned was my mums’s “divi number” (9604551) which had to be quoted everytime you were sent to the local coop. In the UK the status of the Coop fell with competition from Sainsbury’s etc. But here in Italy the Coop is alive and well and known for the quality of its food. The “divi” has been replaced the “Sociocard” which is much more useful as remembering numbers and codes becomes more difficult. For sometime we had thought about getting a card but stopped when we discovered you had to pay 25 euros for it. Then we noticed some special offers in the store for members only and thought that it wouldn’t take too long to recoup our 25 euros.
So Bill is now a member. Apart from some special offers you also, but only at certain times of the year, get a point for every euro spent. The last collecting period went from November to January. We had over 500 points at the end of January and so last week we in 500 points and got 10% off the bill. We will soon have covered the 25 euro outlay and heading into profit.