What to bring from Italy as a gift or as a souvenir, as a keepsake or as food? Where is the best place to buy and what do you need to know? What things, food and wine, clothes should be bought in Italy for yourself and not only what to choose to decorate your home – says Eurotraveler.
People visit Italy not only to see, but also to bring something home from there. For memory: as a real (tasty, healthy, original) proof of a completed visit, or as a gift. For interior decoration, for wearing, or sometimes just for something edible.
This should not be surprising – the European country is known as a place where you can get lots of good things. However, not everyone knows what you can buy in Italy that you wouldn’t be ashamed to give as a gift. How can you decorate your home or at least a friendly table!
In our article we will simply mention again, what you need to pay attention to. We’ll also drop a couple of lines about how much you can bring across the border of the same wine or sanctioned goods.
We advise you to pay special attention to the latter. So as not to leave a piece of Parmesan and some expensive (literally little thing) to the customs officers.
Well, or in order not to pay a duty and a fine, which will literally erase the value of what you purchased!
What things should you bring from Italy?
Tourists usually resolve this issue on the spot. Often without bothering too much with searching and buying the first thing that catches your eye.
This is not that bad, but rather understandable. For the majority are tied hand and foot by time frames.
And they do not have the opportunity to buy anything from clothing or cosmetics in Italy, or simply as a gift. This means – really high quality and original.
That’s why tourists mostly focus on what they see along the way. While sightseeing and taking photos, how many worthwhile things can you buy in souvenir shops in the most tourist places?
So we think not! That’s why, in fact, they created something like a guide)
Souvenirs
Most tourists, as a “reminder” for themselves and their loved ones, purchase such things as magnets and painted plates.
The first ones then decorate the doors and sides of refrigerators: their own and those of others. The second ones are hung on the wall. To make it immediately and absolutely clear: their owner has been to Rome and Venice, Florence and Milan…
You can, of course, splurge and buy such essentially exclusive souvenirs from Italy as Murano glass and Venetian masksTuscan leather goods…
But, alas, both the first and the second and the third have learned today masterfully forge. And sell at a noticeably lower price, thereby attracting the attention of poor (read: mass) travelers.
One way or another, most tourists decide to buy a magnet as a gift, it’s cheap and simple. Such simple souvenirs cost up to 3-4 euros apiece, depending on the area where they are purchased. It is clear that the more touristy a street is, the higher the prices.
Prices for plates, if they are hand-painted, also start from 20. Today, more likely, from 25-30 euro coins
A simple glass pendant or hairpin made in Murano will cost a little less (from 8-10 €). If you’re lucky, you can buy a handmade ring in Venice for 6-7 €, beads or earrings cost from 12-15 euros per piece (set).
Figurines and vases, of course, much more valuable. And here everything depends on the shape, size and imagination of the seller.
The standard Venetian carnival mask is not real, that is, simply toy sizewill cost about 20-30 €. But a handmade mask will take 60 € or more out of your wallet. Those that can be dressed in size and not just hung on the wall will cost 100 € or more.
For children
Would you like to bring something from Venice for your child? No need to invent – buy a beautifully dressed one handmade porcelain doll. They are very elegant, although they are expensive – a piece costs an average of 50 €.
Here it is worth focusing on children’s habits. Because it costs nothing for a sloppy child to break a doll worth a good lunch in 5 minutes.
Alcohol
As a gift for an adult you can bring a bottle of local wine. Chianti from Tuscany is very well known today and therefore will not make the right impression. And it often costs only 4-5 € for a container with a volume of 0.75 liters.
But a bottle of Barolo from Piedmont or Valpolicella from Veneto will make you click your tongue in delight after tasting. Those who understand – the rest, out of politeness, will say the usual – “delicious”.
The price tag for such wine usually only starts from 10-12 € per bottle
Amaretto liqueur and, especially, Martini today are also worth buying in Italy – despite the fact that there seem to be plenty of them in local stores. Those and not those – steel fakes more the rule than the exception!
It would be nice to bring traditional lemon liqueur from Italy limoncello (Limoncello), produced mainly near Naples and Sicily. After all, a bottle of this original drink will cost only 7-10 € in Italian supermarkets.
Naturally, in order to buy limoncello, you do not necessarily need to go to Sicily. However, this highly desirable — the island is very original and has significant differences from the rest of Italy.
From products
tourists bring gorgonzola, parmesan, mozzarella cheeses, dried pork prosciutto, and bologna sausage mortadella as gifts. Just keep in mind that all this should be factory packednot wrapped in paper at the mom-and-pop store.
Firstly, there will be no problems with safety – in Rome it’s hot even in September, let alone in the summer. And secondly, there is a risk that all this could be confiscated at the border.
Because a piece of cheese cut off in a store at Russian customs may be seized as a product that does not meet veterinary requirements. And they will also fine you!
But meat and dairy products in original factory packaging You can import it into Russia! Up to 5 kg per capita – a larger quantity will be considered as a product transported for the purpose of resale, and will also be taken away.
Just in case, you don’t need to bring it home from Italy and sun-dried tomatoes – 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…
Made in Italy olive oil is rightly chosen by many as a souvenir – 0.25 liter bottles are so convenient to give – it often comes in a culinary 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, in Italian stores all these products and even alcohol are usually cheaper
This is not Finland. Where, on the contrary, all citizens go to the border or abroad if they need to buy (cheaper) alcoholic beverages!
Only complete fans of this product decide to bring pasta, that is, macaroni, from Italy, since it is still a bit heavy. Therefore, enjoy a truly Italian dish in his homeland!
But you can take a jar or two of anchovies, the Mediterranean analogue of Baltic sprat, with you on the way back.
They weigh a little, any dish, be it pizza or pasta, will add zest. And no wonder – Italian anchovies are considered the best in the world!
It’s also difficult to resist bringing back from a trip to the Apennine Peninsula jar of artichokes and/or capers. Truffle paste. Pesto sauces for dressing literally any dish – not just pasta!
Cloth
Many look like just left an expensive boutiqueand before that we visited a beauty salon. There is no need to be envious or especially surprised – looking good in a public place is a widespread Italian tradition.
You can and should try again! Just first, understand what is “fashionable” in Italy does not mean “expensive”.
High-quality and stylish things can be bought in absolutely a regular family store. Having paid quite reasonable money for them, even by the standards of a poor tourist.
Many foreigners initially target sales seasons in Italy and shopping in outlets. Completely forgetting that both the first and second are mainly aimed at them – for foreign tourists.
And it is intended – correctly – to pump out money
Tuscany is famous for its excellent (and most expensive in Italy) wine. But it’s also worth coming here to buy leather bags. As well as belts, wallets, and other leather accessories.
Since these things, made by the hands of Tuscan craftsmen, cost noticeably less in Florence and Siena than in other regions of the country. And they are not counterfeited so often, which has a positive effect on the quality!
Worth remembering
In accordance with the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia and Russians, export from the countries of the agreement is prohibited any goods (luxury goods) costing more than 300 euros per unit.
Tax free
We should 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 perform such a maneuver.
In the case of Italy, the VAT size varies from 22% (clothing, jewelry) up to 10% (food and alcohol, optics) – globalblue.com/shoppers/how-to-shop-tax-free/destinations/italy.
And only those who bought goods worth 70.01 € in the same store on the same day have the right to return (the threshold has been reduced by more than 2 times compared to recent years). And formalized it all single check!
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© Eurotraveler
