Shopping
Outlet and shopping days with a driver
Prime Drive drives shopping days from La Spezia to Barberino Designer Outlet, Serravalle Designer Outlet, Fidenza Village, The Mall and Forte dei Marmi–Viareggio. Forte dei Marmi is the closest at 48 km, about 45 minutes. Up to 8 passengers, room in the car for what you buy, and an agreed price that changes only if you change the itinerary.
Which outlets do you drive to?
Five, and they sit in four different directions from La Spezia.
- Barberino Designer Outlet — Barberino del Mugello, north of Florence.
- Serravalle Designer Outlet — Serravalle Scrivia, beyond Genoa on the A7.
- Fidenza Village — Fidenza, up the A15 past Parma.
- The Mall — Leccio, in the Arno valley south-east of Florence.
- Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio — the Versilia coast, and the closest of the five.
Each of these is a full day rather than an afternoon. The point of taking a car is not speed; it is that you arrive with an empty vehicle and leave with a full one, and that nobody has to carry anything to a station.
How far are they from La Spezia?
Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio are the closest of the five: 48 km (30 miles), about 45 minutes.
The four designer outlets each sit beyond a city, and that is what turns them into a full day. Genoa is 100–104 km from La Spezia, about 1 hour 25 minutes, and Serravalle is past the Genoa motorway node. Florence is 149–150 km and 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours; The Mall is south-east of the city, Barberino to the north of it. Parma is 117–121 km and about 1 hour 29 minutes, and Fidenza is further up the A15 again.
So the useful figure is never the one for the city. The quote gives the driving time for the outlet you choose, measured to the outlet itself.
What about Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio?
The closest of the five, and the only one that is not a designer outlet village.
Forte dei Marmi is 48 km, about 45 minutes from La Spezia — closer than Pisa, closer than Lucca, and reached almost entirely on the A12. In high season it is nearer 50 minutes to an hour. The motorway exit is signed Versilia; there is no exit named after the town, which catches out people driving themselves.
It is a different sort of shopping from a designer outlet. Forte dei Marmi is a resort with boutiques along the streets and a famous weekly market, and Viareggio adds a long seafront of shops. The two sit a few minutes apart, so a day can take in both without much driving.
One seasonal truth worth knowing before you book: the Versilia is a summer economy. In July and August the shops, the beach clubs and the restaurants are all open and all busy. In February a good number of them are closed. A January day there is a pleasant, quiet drive along the coast; it is not the same day you saw in somebody’s August photographs.
How much shopping actually fits in the car?
Luggage room is the reason this service exists, and it is the one Prime Drive has always led with. Up to 8 passengers travel in the vehicle, and the bags travel with them.
The practical difference against the alternatives is easy to picture. On a train, everything you buy has to be carried to the platform, lifted on, lifted off and carried again. In a rental car, everything you buy has to fit around the cases you are already carrying, and then you have to find a space in the outlet parking lot on a Saturday in December. With a driver, the luggage space starts the day empty and nothing has to be carried further than the car.
Will traffic spoil the Serravalle run?
It can, and the cause is not what most people expect.
The Serravalle route goes through the Genoa motorway node, which carried long-running roadworks through 2026 — the A10 recorded 14 km of queues on an ordinary September morning, with no holiday weekend involved. On this corridor the main delay variable is roadworks rather than holidaymakers.
That has a counter-intuitive consequence worth planning around: shoulder season is not automatically quieter. Regione Liguria clears the most disruptive roadworks for Easter and the spring bank holidays, precisely because those are the busy weekends. A quiet Tuesday in October can therefore be slower than a busy Saturday in April.
The practical answer is to leave early, and to set the departure time against that morning’s traffic rather than a plan made weeks before.
Can we combine shopping with a town?
Yes, within the destinations Prime Drive already drives.
- The Mall with a day in Florence. Both lie the same side of the city, so a morning at the outlet and an afternoon in Florence is a natural pairing — bearing in mind that Florence is about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours from La Spezia each way, and that is before either stop. See Pisa and Florence in one day for how that day actually runs.
- Forte dei Marmi with Lucca or Pietrasanta. The closest combination and the most relaxed. Pietrasanta is 50 km and about 45 minutes; Lucca is 77 km and about 55 minutes to 1 hour 5 minutes. See Pisa, Lucca and Forte dei Marmi.
- Barberino with Florence, in the same way as The Mall, though Barberino sits on the other side of the city.
What we will not do is build you a day around a town Prime Drive does not publish. If you want somewhere that is not named on this site, ask — every trip is customisable on request, and you will get a straight answer about whether it works in a day.
How do I pay, and when is the price fixed?
Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express are accepted, in euro.
Send the date, the outlet and the number of passengers, and a price comes back in writing within 24 hours. It is agreed before you travel and it does not change unless you change the itinerary.
The rest of the day is settled the same way. The pickup time, how the stop at the outlet runs, what the price covers and the terms for changing or cancelling the day are all confirmed in writing with the quote, before anything is booked. Nothing is left to be worked out on the morning.
Where else a driver can take you
- Every trip from La Spezia, with the driving times.
- Forte dei Marmi and the Versilia as a touring day.
- The Mall with a day in Florence.
The same car does the plainer work as well: airport and port transfers, long-distance runs and full touring days. They are all on the services page.
Questions about this trip
Which outlets do you drive to?
Five: Barberino Designer Outlet at Barberino del Mugello, Serravalle Designer Outlet at Serravalle Scrivia, Fidenza Village at Fidenza, The Mall near Florence, and the shops of Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio. Those are the destinations Prime Drive publishes, and a day can be built around any one of them.
How far are the outlets from La Spezia?
Forte dei Marmi and Viareggio are the closest of the five, at 48 km and about 45 minutes. The four designer outlets each sit beyond a city: Serravalle past the Genoa motorway node, Barberino and The Mall beyond Florence, Fidenza further up the A15 than Parma. That is what makes each of them a full day rather than a morning. The quote gives the driving time for the outlet you choose, measured to the outlet and not to the city before it.
How much shopping actually fits in the car?
Up to 8 passengers travel in the vehicle, and the luggage space starts the day empty. Nothing you buy has to be carried to a platform, lifted onto a train, or fitted around the cases you are already travelling with.
How do I pay?
Visa, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express are accepted, in euro. The price is agreed in writing before you travel and does not change unless you change the itinerary. A quote comes back within 24 hours.
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