What to bring back from Italy as gifts or souvenirs, as a keepsake or meal? Where is the best place to buy and what do you need to know? What things, food and wine, clothes are worth buying in Italy for yourself and not only, what to choose for home decoration – tells Eurotraveler.
Italy is visited not only to see, but also to bring something home from there. As a keepsake: as tangible (tasty, healthy, original) proof of a visit, or as a gift. To decorate the interior, to vilify, or sometimes just to eat something.
This is not surprising – the European country is known as a place where you can get a lot of good things. However, not everyone knows what you can buy in Italy that you are not ashamed to give away. How can you decorate a house or at least a friendly table!
In our article, we’ll just mention once again what you need to pay attention to. And also let’s write a couple of lines about how much the same wine or sanctioned goods can be transported across the border.
We recommend paying special attention to the latter. In order not to leave a piece of parmesan cheese and some expensive (literally little thing) to customs officers.
Well, or to avoid paying the fee and fine, which literally negate the value of the acquired!
What Items to Buy in Italy
Tourists usually resolve this issue on the spot. Often without bothering too much to search and buy the first thing that catches your eye.
It’s not that bad, but rather understandable. Because most of them are tied hand and foot by time frames.
And they don’t have the opportunity to buy anything from clothes or cosmetics in Italy, just as a gift. We mean, really high-quality and original.
Therefore, tourists mostly sweep what they see along the “course of movement”. While sightseeing and taking photos)
How many worthwhile things will you be able to buy in souvenir shops in the most touristic places in such a manner. Suppose, not so high number!
Thus, in fact, we have created something like a travel guide for (valuable) shopping…
Souvenirs
Most tourists buy things like magnets and painted plates as a “reminder” for themselves and their loved ones.
The former then decorate the doors and sides of refrigerators: their own and others’. The second one is hung on the wall. To be clear, their owner has been to Rome and Venice, Florence and Milan…
Of course, you can go broke and buy such basically exclusive souvenirs from Italy as Murano glass and Venetian masks, Tuscan leather goods…
But, alas, both the first, the second and the third, have learned to masterfully forge today. And sell at a noticeably lower price, thereby attracting the attention of poor (read – mass) travelers.
Anyway, most tourists decide to buy a magnet as a gift, it’s cheap and easy. Such simple souvenirs cost up to 3-4 euros per piece, depending on the area where they are purchased. It is clear that the more touristic the street is, the higher the prices.
The prices for the plates, if they are hand-painted, also start from 20. Today, it’s more likely that it’s already starting from 25-30 euro coins.
A little cheaper (from €8-10) will cost a simple pendant or a glass hairpin made at Murano. If you are lucky, you can buy a handmade ring in Venice for 6-7 euros, beads or earrings cost from 12-15 euros per piece (set).
Statuettes and vases, of course, are valued much more dearly. And here everything depends on the shape, size and imagination of the seller.
A standard Venetian carnival mask – of a kind that’s not life-size, but rather toy-sized – will cost around €20-30. A handmade mask, on the other hand, will set you back €60 or more. Those that are actually wearable, rather than just meant to be hung on a wall, can cost €100 or more.
For Kids
Want to bring something back from Venice for a child? No need to overthink it – buy a beautifully dressed, handmade porcelain doll. They’re very elegant, though pricey-one costs an average of €50.
Here, it’s best to consider the child’s habits. After all, a clumsy child can easily break a doll worth a nice lunch in just five minutes.
Alcohol
You can bring a bottle of local wine from Italy as a gift for an adult. Chianti from Tuscany is very well known these days and therefore won’t make the desired impression. Besides, it often costs only €4-5 for a 0.75-liter bottle.
But a bottle of Barolo from Piedmont or Valpolicella from Veneto will have them clicking their tongues in delight after tasting it. Those who know their wine will say so – the rest will politely offer the standard “delicious.”
The price tag for such wine usually starts at €10-12 per bottle.
Amaretto liqueur – and especially Martini – is also worth buying in Italy today, even though they seem to be plentiful in local stores. Whether genuine or not, counterfeits have become the rule rather than the exception!
It would also be a good idea to bring back from Italy the traditional lemon liqueur Limoncello, produced mainly near Naples and in Sicily. After all, a bottle of this authentic drink costs only €7–10 in Italian supermarkets.
Of course, in order to buy limoncello, you do not necessarily need to go to Sicily. However, this is highly desirable – the island is very distinctive and has significant differences from the rest of Italy.
From Products
Tourists bring gorgonzola, parmesan, mozzarella, prosciutto pork jerky, and Mortadella Bologna sausage as gifts. Just keep in mind that all this should be packaged using the factory method, and not wrapped in paper in a family store.
First of all, by performing so you will have no problems with safety, as it is hot in Rome in September, let alone summer. And secondly, there is a risk that all this may be confiscated at the border.
Just in case, you don’t need to bring dried tomatoes home from Italy either – they are a traditional local product. In the event that you are going to buy them by weight, and not in factory packaging.
- How much do groceries cost in Italy today
Olive oil and…
Many people rightly choose made in Italy olive oil as a souvenir – 0.25-liter bottles are so convenient to give away – it often comes in a cooking set along with local balsamic vinegar. The most famous is the one from Modena!
A small detail: Don’t wait until you get to the duty-free counters at the airport. After all, all these products and even alcohol are usually cheaper in Italian stores.
This is not Finland. Where all citizens, on the contrary, go to the border or abroad if they need to buy (cheaper) alcoholic beverages!
Pasta, that is, pasta, is decided to bring from Italy only by perfect fans of this product, because it is still too heavy. Therefore, enjoy the original Italian dish in his homeland!
But you can take a jar or two of anchovies, the Mediterranean equivalent of the Baltic sprat, with you on the way back.
They don’t weigh much, and they’ll add a twist to any dish, whether it’s pizza or pasta. And no wonder – Italian anchovies are considered the best in the world!
It’s also hard to resist bringing a jar of artichokes and/or capers from a trip to the Apennine Peninsula. Truffle paste. Pesto sauces for dressing literally any dish – not just pasta!
Clothes
Italians are awfully stylish guys. They like to dress discreetly, but very elegantly.
Many people look as if they have just left an expensive boutique, and before that they visited a beauty salon. You shouldn’t be envious or particularly surprised – looking good in a public place is a common Italian tradition.
You can and should try to repeat it! But first, make it clear to yourself that “fashionable” in Italy does not mean “expensive”.
High-quality and stylish items can be bought in a completely ordinary family store. Having paid for them quite reasonable money, even by the standards of a poor tourist.
Many foreigners initially target the sales seasons in Italy and shopping at outlets. While completely forgetting that both the first and the second are focused mainly on them – on foreign tourists.
And it is intended – correctly – for pumping out money.
It is famous for its excellent (and the most expensive in Italy) wine Tuscany. But it’s also worth coming here to buy leather bags. As well as belts, purses, and other leather accessories.
Since these items, made by the hands of Tuscan craftsmen, cost significantly less in Florence and Siena than in other regions of the country. And they are not forged so often, which has a positive effect on quality!
What interesting cities to visit in Tuscany
Taxi-free
Do not forget about the refund of value added tax (VAT or VAT). Since any foreigner who does not live in the European Union has the opportunity to make such a maneuver.
In the case of Italy, the VAT varies from 22% (clothing, jewelry) to 10% (food and alcohol, optics) – globalblue.com/shoppers/how-to-shop-tax-free/destinations/italy.
And only those who bought €70.01 worth of goods in the same store on the same day have the right to a refund (the threshold has been lowered by more than 2 times compared to recent years). And I made it all out with a single check!
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© Eurotraveler
