What to buy in Italy
 

I will be going on my tour of Italy in August and will be visiting Rome, Sorrento, Capri, Naples, Assisi, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, and Sienna. I was wondering what to bring home for myself and for friends and family. Since it's my first time to Italy, I was wondering what I can get that is typical of each city but not too expensive.

I know that in Venice, there is the Murano glass, what other items are must-buys from each city?

sorrento - amalfi coast.
limoncillo liquer.

ceramics from each area would be good.
I have a small collection from different parts of Italy - on my walls.

I really tried to avoid breakables - just didn't want to be heartbroken if there was an accident. In Venice, we ended up buying 5 masks - one for a friend and 4 for us; we didn't intend to buy any, but some of the shops have such COOL ones! The three of us "girls" bought purses in Florence or Pisa...not ultra expensive ones, but cool, fun leather ones. You also see a lot of beautiful and fun leather gloves; it's hard to bring those back for people unless you know the sizes.

At just about every location we visited, we bought books about the location. That is my husband's doing, and I hate to lug them around. However, when we return home, I'm the one who reads them. (I'm very glad we bought so many books this time, because CVS lost all 14 rolls of our film.)

Catholics, please forgive me, but in Rome, I was on a quest for the Ultimate Tacky Pope Souvineer. I never actually bought anything, but my son ended up with a huge poster of the pope.

Rome-when visiting the catacombs I bought tiny little oil lamps and small tiles that indicated which families lived in which caves. Also bought Virgin Mary charms that had been blessed by the pope for my catholic friends--but they weren't cheap!
Florence-silk ties were a bargain as were leather wallets bought at the markets
Venice-bought pill box at San Marco of mother and child and carry it in my purse always
Lapis earrings for me (splurge)
my daughter brought me back a small jar of pesto from Ligure--yummy
ah yes, limoncello!!

Venice, as you know, for glass. You can find beautiful earrings and necklaces for very low prices (i.e. 8 EUR and up), if you look in the shops away from St. Mark's (in Dorsoduro, maybe. I forget exactly, but they are everywhere). We were impressed with the variety of glass, even. Gorgeous paperweights, vases, etc. for gifts (and for self!).
In Florence-- leather, for sure.
Assisi- get a St. Francis statue with birds on his arms (corny, for sure)
Tuscany- olive oil??

So many choices, so little moolah!!

I always bring a few breakables home and wrap them in clothing and have never had anything broken and this includes various china items from the English potteries. In Assissi there is plenty of attractive ceramics that is great for "porch art"--suns, moons, etc. Be sure to look for pesto on your trip--it is much better than any pesto here. In Venice I found some very attractive glass bead jewelry for cheap in a tabac shop--wish I had bought more now. Look in the tabac shop which doubles as a gift shop near the restaurant Storico Cantinone. Both the restaurant and tabac are on a small canal. In Florence you should go to Pharmacia Santa Maria Novella for excellent fragrances, soaps, potpourri, etc.

Small packets of Florentine style stationery and the marbled paper covered pencils have always been popular from Venice/Florence as well as bookmarks, and from Tuscany, I like the ceramics if you can manage them for the trip home. In Siena I purchased two small handpainted tiles with the cypress tree/hill scenes on them and they are a wonderful addition to my kitchen and took up little room. Agree about small jars of pesto or bottles/cans of the good olive oil/small bottles of limoncello from the south. In Venice now the glass bead bracelets and necklaces are quite popular and I agree there are a couple of nice shops in Dosudoro but they're all over the place.

I did get some swell pope souvineers when in Rome! Medals/crosses from the Vatican area are popular with believers back home, and there are some neat small mosaic pieces as well.

Try the museum shops for sure. A great source (among other things) for refrigerator magnets!

I agree that for Venice, in addition to masks (and the kind of masks that are made to "sit" on a table rather than hang from a wall look great). the lovely Murano glass necklaces and bracelets you can get-most of the good artisanal shops for this are located in the San Polo/Santa Croce area of Venice.

Last summer, my sister and I bought the following:
-strappy sandals and rosaries in Rome
-Limoncello (which we drank while in Capri)
-glass bracelets in Venice
-handmade leather gloves and David postcards for our single gal friends in Florence
-Cameo earrings which we watched being made near Sorrento
-ready-to-cook-with spices from various food carts off the roads along the Amalfi Coast

If you have a male friend who is openly gay, he might appreiciate one of the calendars they sell in Rome of super good looking priests.

Well Missypie, don't stop there! How about Venice's Gondoliere calendar-those buff upper bods and rowing arms, you know....

I thought the priests were better looking.

I'm afraid I missed the priest one -I'll be on the lookout this next trip whirl through Rome.

well, you can get the handsome priests for women too!

A few words about Murano glass-if it's cheap,it's not Murano glass,probably Chinese.

Good point re: Murano glass. Look for a sticker that says it's authentic Murano.

That doesn't mean it's real,either.Those stickers can be bought and slapped on anything!

In FLorence we purchased lots of handmade blank books. They were much less expensive in the shops closer to Piazzo Independence. The ones near the Piti Palance were double in price.

Massagediva-to the contrary, I've gotten lovely inexpensive glass necklaces and bracelets that I believe ARE Murano glass, because the artisan has told me it is, and it is in fact marked as Murano-so I am not so cynical to think that shops where I have bought these pieces are all trying to put on over on me by selling me glass made in China.

If you want to believe to the contrary, that's your business-I might add, however, you could just as easily argue that a piece of glass jewelry that you OVERpaid for might be from the same foreign glass source as well! High prices do not guarantee authenticity, by any measure-it may mean that you have just been sucked into believing that for no reason.

Here are some gen u wine Venetian made jewelry. I have visited them in Venice,
http://www.danielmstevens.com/

strange website but click on the x's on the left hand side.

I really like his jewelry and it is all handmade.

Girltravel-maybe you're feeling hormonal,but no need to be so nasty.

I do not doubt the provenance of your jewelry,but there is fake Murano glass all over Venice that is marked with those little tags.Something marked with one may or may not be genuine.

a square is always a rectangle,but a rectangle is not always a square.

by the way,jrmama496,here's another website for a glassmaker I know in Venice.He's a real character and makes some beautiful stuff!

www.glasshandmade.it

Tuscany (San Quirico) - Dedalo for linens

I wasn't trying to be nasty at all-just pointing out that it is cynical and an insult to Venetian artisans who may well sell Murano glass objects/jewelry at competitive prices that somehow because they are doing so such items are suspect, and not original Murano.

I do however, think you WILL hear that tired refrain about "not real Murano glass in Venice" repeated frequently by the glassmakers on the island of Murano, however...

I guess that if I was buying something incredibly expensive, I would be concerned about whether it is "genuine" or "authentic." However, if I see a very cool necklace in Venice and it is 10 euro and I love it, I'm going to buy it, whether I suspect it was made in China or on Murano Island.

I'll try to look at the receipts of where I got my necklaces...those shops had some items that I didn't see in all the other stores. In one store, the owner's eyes really lit up when I was admiring a certain necklace and earrings...it seems SHE had designed and made those particular pieces, so she was very happy when I bought them. (Or, to the cynical, did she just TELL me that?)

Similar thing with leather purses in Florence. I had heard that lots of the pieces are mostly made elsewhere, then finished in Italy so they can have the "made in Italy" tag on them. I knew we weren't shopping in the fancy shops. As a consumer, I looked at the price and bought...my daughter got a totally cool red leather purse in a style you don't see in the US for 27 euro...for that price, I won't lose sleep over where it was really made.

bookmarking

Of course,if you see something you love,and don't care where it came from or who made it,you have the right to buy it.It's just nice to be educated about it.If you buy a $5 scarf in India and are told it is a genuine Pashmina(as we are discussing on another thread)you should know that that is not the case.

If I see a cute pair of 7 euro earrings in Venice or a 15 euro "Burano" lace handkerchief,I would know that they may be cute,but probably not the work of local artisans.

This is not a "cynical" view,but an educated one.

I assume that if you but it in Murano, it is authentic? Should I just buy it there or is it much more expensive there than in town?

Anything else from the other cities?

Like I said, you can just as easily be OVERcharged for something that is supposedly authentic, and isn't, than paying little for something that is authentic.

No Jamma-do NOT believe that the only place to buy authentic Murano glass is on the island-that is what some Murano glass shops WANT you to believe-because generally, they ARE going to charge you more than where there competition is-as there are many small artisanal shops selling authentic Murano glass in Venice.

For that matter, there are many souvenir shops that sell authentic Murano glass as well-at reduced prices-but the more expensive shops will never want to tell you that.

We also like to buy ceramics from the different areas, and the patterns vary by region. We have purchased many cork/coaster sets in Vietri, near Sorrento, sort of, and Deruta, near Assisi. People always LOVE them and they are easy to stuff into small spaces in luggage. If you face the Duomo in Florence, there is a wonderful glove shop to the left across the road toward the middle of the Duomo that sells the best cashmere lined gloves I have ever enjoyed. They are very reasonably priced so you can buy funky colors you might not try otherwise. The best paper store I ever found was in Sienna across from the temple to a Greek goddess on the main plaza. I read about it in "Bella Tuscany" by Frances Mayes and it was a great tip. More expensive than Florence, but just gorgeous. I know this is easy to say, but I have never been sorry I BOUGHT something, only later regretted things I talked myself out of!

I saw quite few "OUR stuff is NOT made in China" signs in the shops on Murano, implying that the stuff next door WAS made in China.

Some other things I have purchased on my previous Italy trips and really loved:
Florence-At San Minaito al Monte
(The church at the top of the hill above Piazza Michaelangelo)
Medicinal herbs and honey bottled by the monks

Dureta pottery-condiment holder for the table

Gold-no longer a bargain,but always 18k and something I am happy to wear often.(I always buy something in Rome on a little shop on Via Pettinari near Piazza Farnese)

That's Deruta pottery,not Dureta!

Capri-Carthusia perfume; JP Tod shoes.

Sorrento-Lemoncello liqeur.

Florence--Paper from Pineider; curtain tassels from Passmaneria Valmar (Via Porta Rossa, 53r.); leather from Ferragamo; kitchen witches.

Yes! That reminds me of Passamaneria Toscana on Piazza San Lorenzo. I love this shop, I enter and start to feel weak with tassle lust. Needless to say I have pillows, tassels and fabric from this store that I love.

If you are shopping for gifts in Florence, I cannot think of a lovelier place to find them than the Santa Maria Novella farmacia. Heaps of great perfumes and candles and creams and potpourri for men and women at very reasonable prices. You should see this place even if yo do not think you need or want anything!

Two specific mid-priced stores we liked:
1. For a mid-priced wallet and belt for my son in Florence, my daughter’s recommendation was a little store on Via del Corso 69/r, called Leonardo da Vinci. A very nice woman runs it, and my daughter thought her prices were the best for quality pieces.
2. In Venice, we especially liked all the Murano glass offered for sale in shops throughout Venice, and we took time to look in many of them. One glass shop where we found an especially nice, simple necklace and earring set at a very good price, was Vetri Artistici di Murano, 3 G di Giordani, Castello 4589 (www.venetian-art.com).

wonderful thread, bookmarking

I find the suggestion of a calendar of priests' photos as a gift for gay men in very poor taste, Missypie.