thought i'd tell you what little i know...just bought a pair of 166cm Blossom Flere skis, and can report on how they ski soon, i hope!

per your listing:
    (from the Valchiavenna region in Italy...built in Lombardy, the town name is Chiavenna, on the road to Madesimo or St. Moritz..?)
<<the shop is on the road just south of Chiavenna - technically before you either continue on toward St. Moritz, or hang a left to go toward Madesimo. >> 

Highly regarded by other ski designers in Italy. Reportedly superb race skis and excellent carvers. Anyone try these?
<<they look like a traditional sandwich construction, like stockli or elans i've owned.>>

Rumored to have inherited the old Persenico/Spalding/Prime facility perhaps with Lucianno Panatti still at the helm.
<<the skis do say "powered by Lucianno Panatti" but the factory is reportedly closed, "bankrupt" in the words of the locals i talked to.  The sales person seemed to convey that the factory was their production facility until recently, but now they make them in a different local facility>>

Rumored to make skis for Nava and Duell...maybe VIST and some Hart designs. Anyone know the details? 
<<they look just like the vist skis,  the shape and construstion are very similar, so i'd concur that these are the same producer.  not sure if the Vist product ever made it here for sale, but visiting the shop in chiavenna provided me an opportunity to grab a pair for a lot less money than the Vist product was to retail for.  i bought mine 4 days ago, for 550 euros, (about $775) with vist speedlock plate, and 412 bindings.  they also still had one pair of their very sexy "Only One" carbon ski, which was obviously considerably lighter weight, but was at least 200 euros more dough.  also, they had two Ferrari-branded Skis, which the proprietor seemed to say were over 2000 euros!  very cool black carbon topsheet, red sidewall,  very light. >>

in any case, i gather the guy helping me was a ski maker himself, tried to catch his name, maybe angelo?    my italian and his english were equally inadequate, but he was helpful, friendly, and generous with his time.  i am looking forward to trying them out. 

fun to have something different.

Phil, Boston, MA

Great news on seeing the Blossom skis in their native habitat. We have long had a curious interest in these skis and their rumored production of makeups like "Ferrari" and other brand names.  Thanks for the info update, and let us know how the skis work out...post pics if you can !  We definitely want to try their carving skis, reportedly very effective.  Take good care of them!  If you're ever coming up to Vermont, let us know and we'll meet you to see the skis.  Post a review as soon as you can...we look forward to it!

Cheers.

thanks,
will do.  i wish my Italian were better, as i woudl be ore sure of my "conversations" with the people at the shop. 

funny, as i was trying to find more info on the binding system, i came across yet another version of what have to be Blossom's "Only One" Limited Edition carbon ski: http://www.aurum-ski.com/ski.dhtml. These look the same as both the Blossom-branded, and Ferrari-branded ones i saw in-person.  very sexy, and i almost bought what they told me was the last Blossom pair they had - for under $600 euros!  As I am presently purchasing a ski-house, I had to settle for the Flere model i got - not complaining...

I'll upload some pix, once I figure out where/how.

Oh, i also made a harrowing drive to Madesimo (of course, not open yet, but snow was falling in some of the passes!) and I'd love to some day return and ski there.  But, man, parts of the road from Chiavenna are frightening - i can't imagine it in the winter.  (there is a fernicular (cable-car or cog-train) so one can avoid driving the worst section, and now i know why.)  But, if you are curious, Google Earth that area, and look for the part of the road that has no fewer than 10 turns in a row!

i'll alert you if headed to VT, or ping me if you head for Sunday River - i'm there every weekend.

Phil Getchell, Boston, MA.

Agreed...this "high fashion" mated with ski hardware at many Euro stores is extremely common...it must work for the target market...much different than the U.S. ! The skis do indeed appear to be the Blossom/Vist/??? branded makeup. Would not doubt it for a moment.

As far as the bindings go, we have been testing the Spoilt RaceCarves last year with the VIST TT plate and 4-12 bindings and find them really good.  You may find you need to twist the rear binding DIN up a notch for rough going (typical with most bindings).  The toepiece has upward release (which I personally tested when I was warping around a groomed corner, only to find the groomer had stopped with courdoroy to leave the nasty weekend bump field intact...with me going too fast into it...POP went the toepiece when I fell into the backseat...which is better than POP-goes-your-ACL !)...

We're finding the custom branding of skis in Europe is extremely widespread and popular.  Not just by branding a ski with a ski company name, but with store "image" names, along with the traditional "Ferrari" or "Gucci" skis you see here and there.  Another brand of the same ski you saw has been spotted as "Stone Island".   A fellow told us he has a pair from this "Stone Island" fashion clothier...looks exactly like the other "Blossom-like" makeups with the VIST binding  (see post#1057 at TetonGravity)!