LIVORNO You come in to buy a bouquet of roses or an orchid and you come out with flowers but also with a poem or a written reflection on the female universe.
The original “two for one” is offered by “La bottega del fiore” in via Pier Coccoluto Ferrigni whose owner Debora Paci, even before talking about the characteristics of his business, he says a word about the situation of neighborhood shops like his. That is, those “shops” that still resist the times, surviving in neighborhoods that are constantly fighting against large-scale retail trade.
«It is objectively a tough battle but if you operate with intelligent marketing strategies you can do it. The secret? Differentiation. It’s obvious that you can then find the rose I sell at the Coop at a reduced price. But there is pink and pink. And if you want quality you will have to come to me or in any case to those who care most about the product.”
And go back to the “feminist” messages. «Of course for some time, thanks also to the collaboration of the “copywriter” Jessica Manzella, we started the “Cut Rights” campaign which obviously plays on the inevitable fate of the flower and on the rights (particularly of women) which obviously should not be cut but guaranteed. The complete sentence that customers found is “A collection of bouquets for those who like cut flowers, mainly odd, but prefer them intact and rigorously even”.
Hence the puns on “L’otto marzo” (where women’s day is associated with an even number) and the “Lotto” without an apostrophe with a clear meaning. Then a tribute to the partisan women: «The mimosa he was the flower of the relay, but the finish line is still far away.” Debora, like her other florist colleagues, then plays away, setting up weddings and various events.
«Recently, thanks to the messages attached to the flowers above, I set up an 8th March not so much as a women’s day but a celebration of everything* where the asterisk is not a typo but a choice to avoid a vowel that would still be wrong which would exclude the world LGBT”. Did Debora Paci always want to be a florist or not?
«In reality, when I was young I was fascinated by the world of culture (as I am today too) and I had thought about opening a bookshop, then out of necessity I found a job at Blockbuster and finally the choice of flowers».
That business in via Ferrigni has been there for a long time. «Since 16 April 2005. And in any case, returning to the conversation about the neighborhood shops, those who come into my shop also do so to have a chat, just like in the past and perhaps to discuss the issues reported on the “pizzini” with whom I accompany the flowers. I may not have managed to open a bookshop – she smiles and closes – but we offer a bit of culture too».l
