How To Donate Clothes in Florence (and save room in your suitcase!)
If you are temporarily living in Florence, studying abroad, or simply traveling, when it is time to return home the reality may hit that there is suddenly not enough room in your suitcase for every article of clothing you brought. Whether you overpacked, (check out my Study Abroad Packing List for tips on how to avoid this phenomenon) bought too many souvenirs, or are trying to avoid paying overweight fees, you are faced with an issue-what to do with the leftover clothes? Throw them away? Leave them in your apartment? Give them away (to friends who probably won’t need them either)?
After several of my roommates moved out this past month, I felt compelled to find an answer to this dilemma. I simply felt too guilty throwing things away, and I knew that with a little effort, I could find a place to donate these unwanted goods.
Project Re-Dress
After asking around town, I was informed of the existence of magical yellow donation dumpsters where I could drop clothes off and they would be donated to San Martino Social Cooperative, in the hopes of being re-sold to raise funds for local charities. These yellow bins are part of project “Re-dress,” which “aims to finance projects useful to different communities and the employment of the young and old in difficult situations, especially the disabled.”
You can learn more about the project and San Martino Social Cooperative here. If you would prefer to donate your clothing directly to those in need, a list of churches that accept donations is also listed on the website, however, this might require some hunting to discover acceptable drop off times (also, the page is in Italian).
What to Donate
Project re-dress is happy to accept the following items: shirts, sweaters, shirts, trousers, skirts, coats, jackets, underwear, blankets, fabrics in general, belts, bags and shoes. Simply place any unwanted clothing and accessories in garbage bags and head to your local dumpster.
Where to Donate
The Caritas website has an interactive dumpster map showing the locations of all the caritas dumpsters in Florence. Once you are on the right street, they are easy to spot as they are quite large and bright yellow.
They only fit about one trash bag per slot, so don’t overload your bags too much to save you some hassle at the dumpster.
If there isn’t a bin near you, you can also call 334 369 5950 (available from Monday to Friday, from 9:00 to 17:00) and schedule your pickup. Bags will be picked up at the building entrance, or directly on your floor floor, in case of disabled or elderly people, according to the caritas website.
Simple as that! Donating your clothes is a great way to help the environment, those in need, and earn some good Karma. Happy donating!
Heard of any other great causes to donate to in Florence? Let me know in the comments!
thank you Catalina! it was very useful. I will donate tomorrow. ,)
Hi Vanessa! I am so glad you found this post to be helpful! Happy donating!