I am visiting some American friends living in Florence. Any suggestions on a few items from "home" that are not readily available in Italy? Someone suggested chocolate chips! Any other ideas?

Personally I would ask what they need. I ask for everything from Choc Chips to baking powder to good white tee shirts. I also order stuff online and have people bring it over.

Some of the items that we normally mention on my site are:

• Fabric Softener Sheets (if they have a dryer)
  
• Brown Sugar
  
• Chocolate Chips (Butterscotch and Peanut Butter as well)
  
• Baking powder
  
• Antiperspirant/Deodorant (they do not have lots of antiperspirants here and are hard to find)
  
• Tylenol, Motrin, Advil, etc.
  
• Desitin if you have babies
  
• Real ethnic food ingredients *
  
• Marshmallows *
  
• Tumms
  
• Jello
  
• Some candies (like peanut butter cups)
  
• Manila file folders
  
• Scrapbooking items
  
• Ziplock Bags
  

* these items can be found in Florence for sure as I am sure other items too.

My sister, who lives in Italy, loves to receive books in English. I save up paperback books that I have read, and bring them when I visit.
- Marie

Thank you. These are just the type of ideas I was looking for!

Instead of food items (choc. chips are now made by Perugina and available in most shops) bring copies of English magazines. New Yorker, travel magazines, those mentioned on this site. When I'm visiting "back home" I spend hours at the wonderful local library poring over past issues of magazines I cant get here.

What would you suggest as a token gift for relatives in Italy that we will be meeting for the first time?

Relatives would love to see photos of the place you live, your home, your pets, kids, maybe a little album . We have a "Cousins Album" where we keep all the photos relatives send us of new babies, etc. A photographic book or calendar about Boston would also be appreciated.

The topic of gifts to take to Italy comes up frequently on the board. I thought it was time for a FAQ on the subject. There are a lot of great ideas in the threads in the FAQ.