“While pawnshops in northern Europe buy and sell a wide array of used items, the emphasis in Italy is on gold, reflecting a deeply rooted southern European tradition in which gold is the favored gift, starting from baptism.  ‘Since I was a child I remember that gold was given as a gift on various occasions and people used to say: Put it aside,’ said Ivana Ciabatti.  ‘We used to laugh at it, but they turned out to be right. Many families are surviving thanks to this gold.’ Official gold sales to Switzerland leaped 65 percent last year to 120 tonnes, up from 73 tonnes in 2010 and 64 tonnes in 2009.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/20/us-italy-pawnbrokers-idUSBRE87J05P20120820

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