A s a rule, I don’t love stepping inside a luxury fashion boutique. Everyone from the liveried doormen guarding the brass and glass entry to a Chanel, a Louis Vuitton or a Prada, to the lithe sales assistants draped in the house’s latest collection knows what I know: I can’t afford anything here. Sure, I might be wearing a nice pair of designer sunglasses but it’s pretty clear that from the neck down I’m 100 per cent Zara and Uniqlo and have a budget to match.

But entering the Gucci Garden store in Florence is a different experience entirely. Stepping into the brightly painted salon with buttercup yellow ceiling and checkerboard floors, the door attendant gives me a broad smile.qlo and have a budget to match.