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.