Favorite Italian Souvenirs
 

I will be making my first trip to Italy (2 weeks; Rome/Sorrento/Umbria) and would love to know what everyone's favorite souvenirs are. I'd like to bring home unique things for family and friends. No worry about size because my husband is a strong guy & I know he won't mind helping me carry stuff! Inexpensive is good, however! Thanks to all.

Limoncello!

balsamic vinegar..its like syrop :)

Jewely is always easy to pack and carry.
Cameos!

Wine (wonderful and very inexpensive), my gold ring, and my leather jacket.

Pottery. Wonderful stuff all over umbria. Venitian glass is available even though you aren't going to Venice. Leather is good too. I know lots of people bring back wine and olive oils but I've found you can get imported Italian wine and olive oil here for not really any more than you can get it for over there. I just bought four bottles of Orvieto wine at my local liquor store for the same price I saw it for over there. And it's heavy and bulky to carry. If I'm going to carry something heavy I'd rather get pottery which lasts forever than something consumable.

Plastic gondolas with an attached barometer

Pope snow globe

I second the limoncello recommendation.

limoncello in Sorrento, pottery in Umbria, and smart fashion stuff from Rome!Stay away from "venetian glass" it is often made in HongKong if it is too cheap ( I live in Venice)Very nice handwoven tablecloth as well in Umbria!
Enjoy buying and carrying!!

I love the cheerful pottery (small wall plaques or entire set of dishes) with lemons on them on sale in southern Italy and Sicily.
In Sorrento, check out Cuomo's Lucky Store for beautiful handmade wooden furniture and music boxes. The music boxes are not too expensive, around $40 up, and make great gifts and souvenirs.

All of the above are excellent suggestions and, needless to say, I purchased all of them: limoncello, gold, pottery. But I found that the pottery is much more expensive here and more difficult to find.

Depending on the size of the pieces, they can be heavy to carry home. But I bought smaller more manageable ones and love using them every chance I get. Wish I bought more.

Have a wonderful time...Italy is a joy.

If you get to Amalfi, there is an ancient paper mill (12th century) up the hill from the cathedral where Antonio Cavaliere has been making paper for more than 50 years. A local artist has used the paper to make prints of his drawings of the mill from various times in its past. One of these prints and meeting Antonio were the best souvenirs of my trip along the Amalfi Coast.

Last year during our honeymoon my wife and I were hopping from city to city so we wanted to travel light. My favorite and most useful souvenirs were the soccer shirts I bought from each city we visited. I wore them during the trip and they kept me cool during those hot touring days. After a quick wash in the sink they dried overnight. They are very durable and they'll remind me of our great adventure every time I wear them.

I second the pope snowglobe recommendation. Bought it from a street vendor outside the Vatican museum.

Oops, I must have missed it, but what is Limoncello?? I'll be in Italy in 12 days.

thanks everyone! I love souvenirs thatt make me laugh and a snow globe pope is definitely going to be tucked in the luggage. Limoncello is a strong vodka based drink with lemons and sugar, offered after dinner. It is delicious. If you go to the website www.beveragerecipe.com, you'll find out how to make your homemade version of it. Although my parents, who go to Italy frequently, tell me the best place to get it in the southern part of Italy where all the lemon trees grow in abundance. It's a popular item in the Naples region especially.

One of the funniest buys was an apron of the David..you pop it on and voila! you have the body of David! Available outside the duomo in Siena..we got more laughs out of that ridiculous apron!

Have a wheel of parmegiano/reggiano shipped home.
Can't wait for mine to arrive.

Mr. Cataldo