What to buy in Italy as a gift, souvenir or for food in 2023? What tags are the most popular, how much do they cost? The best original products and wine you can bring home from Italy, is it worth buying clothes or accessories – in the review by good Time for Trip.
As you might imagine, Italy is visited not only for seeing its attractions, but also to bring something home. As a memento, material evidence of the trip, or just as a gift to relatives and friends.
You know – every first traveler (OK – minimum every second one) want to buy in Italy something special to decorate the interior or himself, or – this is most often – to diversify diet. Quite a natural desire, don’t you agree?
Moreover, the number of truly original things that you can get in Italy exclusively is impressive
This applies to both souvenirs and products that will be quite difficult to find at home. And if you do, then get ready to pay a price, which is sometimes hard to call reasonable.
So in general, in most cases, authentic things are really easier to bring from abroad. Especially, if you will buy them with some kind of great discount, during the one of the famous Italian sales).
What exactly to pay attention to in the case of Italy? We will tell you now!
Popular Gifts from Italy
Tourists usually decide the issue with purchases already on the spot. Frequently without spending much time researching the theme and buying the first thing that catches their eyes.
It’s not bad – quite understandable.
For the majority are bound hand and foot by time frames. And they simply don’t have the opportunity to find in Italy and to bring home gift that everyone considers truly original.
When should they do this, when sometimes there isn’t enough time even for an walking tour of Rome or Venice?! Or for spending 1-2 days on brilliant Italian beach resorts like Viareggio or Taormina?
But if you know to what things exactly to pay attention to first, then everything should be OK with your shopping in Italy… So let’s go!
Souvenirs
Most tourists consider only magnets, painted plates, other ceramic and glass products as such. T-shirts or sweatshirts with the inscription “Italy”, “Rome”, “Venice” are also in great demand.
The first can decorate the doors and sides of refrigerators: their own or of friends. The second ones are hung on the wall, typically in the kitchen or in the living room.
Printed clothes can also be nice to wear for a walk after returning home. To unobtrusively demonstrate to everyone – I have recently been abroad
When, for example, you suddenly discover how damp and cold it can be in Venice in November. And, after rummaging in the suitcase, realize that didn’t take enough warm clothes with you…
With magnets, its’ easy: they cost from 1 to 3-4 euro per one, depending on the area where you are buying them. It’s clear that the busier the street is, the more sellers ask for their goods.
Prices for plates, if they are hand painted, start at € 20-25. T-shirts can be purchased for just € 7-10, sweatshirts cost from € 15-20 each ones.
Glass, Masks and Dolls
Often, many also buy exclusive, but today often forged souvenirs from Italy as Murano glass jewelry and Venetian masks. A simple pendant or hairpin, a ring made by craftsmen from the Murano island cost from € 7-10. For beads or earrings, they ask for at least 12-15 euros.
Figurines and vases are much more expensive. And here it all depends on the shape, size and imagination of the seller
A standard non-toy-sized carnival mask you can buy in Venice will cost about 30 €. For a handmade product, you will have to pay from € 90-100.
Keep in mind that some shops in Venice today are already full of fakes from China. Which, of course, cannot claim any originality.
You can bring your child a doll from Italy – the ones made here are very beautiful, although quite expensive. In this case, though, you should focus on the habits of children. After all, it doesn’t cost anything to break a doll worth 50-60 euros in a couple of minutes.
Will be a great gift for a kid from Italy a wooden Pinocchio figurine, perhaps even handmade. As it’s no secret that the famous doll, on whose adventures have grown up for several generations, was invented in this European country.
Products
In order to constantly remind themselves and their loved ones about Italy, tourists most often bring as a gift local cheeses: Gorgonzola, Parmesan, Mozzarella. As well as the famous Italian ham, Prosciutto.
The original Gorgonzola comes from Lombardy, the best hard cheeses are produced in Emilia-Romagna. As for Mozzarella, its delicious (subjectively) version is produced in Campana in the south of Italy.
Prosciutto is produced in and around Parma
All of the above can be bought in a supermarket in factory packaging. But connoisseurs of products, of course, will certainly want to do this in a specialized shop.
We also recommend bringing home from Italy dried or jerky tomatoes, which will give a piquant taste to almost any dish. Whether it will be pasta or pizza, omelet, porridge or even soup – you can widely experiment with them in your kitchen.
Sun-dried tomatoes are packaged in bags, the fleshier jerkies ones are placed in jars and poured with olive oil. Don’t doubt, these gastronomic ingredients will be a wonderful present from Italy for your friends.
Alcohol
As a gift for an adult, you can bring a bottle of Italian wine.
Chianti from Tuscany is very well known today and therefore will not make a proper impression. Moreover, in many cases it is a fairly cheap wine and costs only 4-6 euros per 0.75 l bottle. But wines such as Barolo from Piedmont or Valpolicella from Veneto will make connoisseurs of this drink click their tongues enthusiastically after tasting.
Note that you need to buy wines marked DOC and DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita). The first abbreviation means that the beverage is produced in a particular Italian region. A modest letter g at the end guarantees control of the manufacturing method.
A wonderful gift for yourself and your friends – Italian prosecco. The best of it is produced in the commune of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, in Veneto (for this reason alone, you should visit Treviso), and costs from € 6-7 per bottle.
Italian vodka made from grape pomace, called Grappa, is well known everywhere. And relatively inexpensive – for € 10-12 you get a liter bottle.
Amaretto liquor, and – even more so – Martini vermouth, is not worth dragging with you (over the sea or the ocean). As there are enough of them on the shelves of stores around the world
But to bring home from Italy the traditional lemon liquor Limoncello, produced mainly near Naples and in the island Sicily, is considered good form. A bottle will cost only 8-10 € in local supermarkets.
Where to Buy
There is no need to purchase alcohol in enotecas, a kind of wine shops in Italy. Because their owners often set too high prices and frankly don’t like to make discounts.
It is much easier and more convenient to buy wine in chain supermarkets. After all, they are in abundance in the Apennine country!
A small detail – don’t take alcohol beverages and everything like this in duty-free shops at airports! For in Italian supermarkets, local products and wines are usually cheaper.
Olive Oil
Many tourists justifiably consider olive oil made in Italy, a great souvenir. Moreover, faceted bottles of 0.25-0.5 liters are so convenient to take with you.
Often, the oil comes in a gift set along with local balsamic vinegar. The most famous is the one produced in Modena
Only avid pasta lovers bring this product from Italy. Because it looks a little ridiculous to pack in a suitcase as a travel trophy some factory made packages of pasta.
It’s much more reasonable – you must agree – to taste the most famous Italian dish in its homeland!
But you can take a jar or two of anchovies with you on the road back. It weighs a little and will add a twist to almost any dish: pasta, rice or pizza. No wonder – Italian anchovies are considered the best in the world!
Local truffle oil is in demand among tourists also – it will add piquancy and exquisite taste to any dish. Someone will certainly buy for himself in Italy and a jar or two of artichokes.
Сlothing&Leather Accessories
Italians are terribly stylish guys. They like to dress discreetly, but very elegantly. Many look like they just left an expensive boutique, and before that visited a beauty salon.
One should not envy and be especially surprised – here they are met by clothes. This is such an old and deeply rooted Italian tradition.
Best leather goods: women hand- and backpacks, men’s briefcases and purses, belts are traditionally made in Tuscany. So if you’re going to visit some attractions of Florence, explore Siena, Pisa, Lucca, be sure to get pair of these accessories.
Even if you don’t like (didn’t like) to dress fashionably, you should try to do it in Italy! At least because dressing stylishly here does not mean spending a lot of money. After all, both winter and summer sales in Italy will help you save significantly.
Many travelers being in Italy initially target seasonal sales and outlets. At the same time, completely forgetting that both the first and second are oriented mainly for foreigners. And they are intended – correctly – mainly for pumping money!
Anyone can buy high-quality and stylish things in a completely ordinary store here. Having paid for them absolutely sane even by the standards of a not so rich man money.
- What Should You See In Tuscany (Not So Famous Places)
- Best Times to Visit Rome Avoiding Being Trampled
- Milan’s Attractions to See in Just 2 Days
© Goodtimefortrip.com
