Best Souvenirs from Italy – What to Bring as a Gift?

What can you bring back from Italy as a gift besides the usual magnets and plates? For me, Italy is, of course, the place for the tastiest and highest quality products in the world, which make for excellent souvenirs.

Here is my personal ranking of unique gifts.

When choosing products, always pay attention to the labels and quality categories. Here’s a detailed article about IGT, IGP, DOC standards.

Cheese

A 250-gram piece of Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmigiano Reggiano) costs about €7 and makes for a thoughtful and reliable gift that most of my friends love. I personally enjoy this cheese and happily fill my suitcase with it during trips.

Parmesan comes in various types, and the taste and price depend on its aging—typically ranging from 12 to 36 months in grocery stores, but sometimes you can find 48- or even 60-month-aged cheese. If your friends have never been to Italy, they will be delighted with even the basic 12-month Parmesan. My personal favorite is the 24-month-aged variety.

In any Italian grocery store, you’ll find more than 20 cheeses to choose from, while larger supermarkets may offer up to 100 varieties! To navigate the wide selection of Italian cheeses, check out our special guide.

In cities like Turin, Milan, Genoa, Rome, Bologna, and Florence, there are huge Eataly supermarkets specializing exclusively in Italian delicacies.

Also, see our report from a Parmesan cheese production site.

Alcohol

I rarely bring wine from Italy for my friends since it takes up a lot of space in the suitcase. We tend to drink quite a bit, so 1-2 bottles don’t make much of an impact. Plus, during the flight, good wine can spoil.

However, for a special occasion or a close friend who’s always ready for a drink, I bring a bottle of high-quality aged grappa. I recommend buying grappa in specialized stores (enotecas). A quality bottle costs around €25, with the average being about €40, but there are even more expensive options.

Recommended enotecas:

• In Rome – Enoteca Trastevere | Bernabei dal 1933, address Via di S. Francesco a Ripa, 48, 00153. Website: www.bernabei.it
• In Milan – Grappa Store Milano, Via Marghera, 14, 20149. Website: www.mazzetti.it

If you’re buying grappa in a supermarket, avoid bottles priced below €10—take care of your health.

Pesto Sauce

Pesto sauce is one of my favorite condiments for pasta, and many of my friends love it too.

A 160-180 gram jar costs €2-3, so I grab as many as I can carry.

Prosciutto and Sausages

What could be tastier than authentic Parma ham (Prosciutto di Parma), which you can buy in any supermarket?

Prices range from €20 to €35 per kilogram. I recommend buying it from the meat department, where it can be sliced for you. Just tell the butcher: “Vorrei trecento grammi di prosciutto. Può metterlo sotto vuoto per favore?” (300 grams of prosciutto, vacuum-sealed please).

I usually buy 3-4 packs of 250-300 grams each.

Balsamic Vinegar

For gourmet friends, a bottle of balsamic vinegar makes a great gift. Just don’t buy the cheapest one for €3.

A 500 ml bottle of authentic Modena balsamic vinegar with IGP quality certification from the Emilia-Romagna region should cost around €7.

Olive Oil

I rarely bring olive oil as a gift due to its weight, but sometimes I make the effort.

A liter of quality olive oil starts at €10 in supermarkets. Don’t buy oil cheaper than that, as good, healthy oil doesn’t come at a lower price.

What Besides Food?

If I hadn’t lived in Italy, my view on souvenirs might have been different. But trying to see things through the eyes of a first-time tourist and combining my own and readers’ experiences, here’s a list of interesting non-food souvenirs:

1. Send a postcard to yourself, family, or friends. In this digital age, a traditional mail-delivered postcard is quite a unique gift. On private Vatican sunrise tour, we always send postcards from the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, complete with a Vatican postal stamp.
2. Buy a fridge magnet featuring a famous site. Surprisingly, many people still collect these and cover their fridges with them. Magnets as gifts are more suited for your parents or grandparents—my mother, for instance, loves them.
3. Antiques and small trinkets. Sometimes, you can find original items for little money at Italian flea markets—books, vinyl records, magazines, jewelry. In Rome, I recommend visiting the Porta Portese flea market (Porta Portese) on Sundays. In Milan, check out the antique market held on the last Sunday of the month in the Navigli district.

For Teenagers

If the teenager is into history, a great gift would be the book *Rome Reborn*, sold in newspaper kiosks and specialized souvenir shops at museums for €14.

The book showcases Rome’s main landmarks—the Colosseum, Forums, Pantheon, and Castel Sant’Angelo, showing how they looked 2,000 years ago compared to today. Pictures of the landmarks are overlaid with reconstructed drawings by archaeologists—it’s fascinating to compare them. The images come with informative annotations.

My colleagues and I use this same book during sightseeing tours to help visualize history. Many of our clients later buy it for their children.

If the teenager isn’t interested in history, bring them a souvenir from the Ferrari Store. Official stores can be found in Bologna, Turin, Milan, Venice, Naples, and Rome.

These stores are usually located in city centers; for example, in Rome, there’s one near the Pantheon at Piazza della Minerva. A Ferrari-branded T-shirt costs €45, a jacket starts at €110, a cap is €35, and a watch is €60.

What do you usually bring from Italy? Share your ideas and experiences in the comments.