Welcome to SlowTrav! Down in the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) forum is a collection of threads with many, many suggestions from over the years. Gifts to Take To Italy
I took a basket of things that were native to Texas - pralines, jalapeno jelly, BBQ Sauce and all sorts of stuff - what is native to California is what you should take.
Posts: 129 | Location: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: 02 April 2006
This is somewhat on the same topic, somewhat not. I'll give it a try.
By way of background, for the past several years, our family has stayed for about two weeks each year in a family-owned (not our family) beach hotel in San Benedetto del Tronto. The family and the staff are always very helpful and kind. This year at Christmas they sent us a Christmas card. Only one or two people there speak English, but one who does is the young woman who works at the reception desk.
I understand that we should not be tipping the staff, but I would like to bring some small gifts from here. We live in a suburb of Pittsburgh -- a beautiful city with a large Italian-American population, but probably not that well known to a lot of people in that part of Italy (even though we did win the Super Bowl this year, LOL!) Any ideas or suggestions will be much appreciated. Thanks!
Posts: 281 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA suburb | Registered: 04 June 2005
When I first visited Italy and met a friend I had only corresponded with (never met before), she greeted me with a huge box of Wine, Aceto, Cheese, pasta, crackers, sweets, all from Modena. This trip I'm bringing American food - from the south, a nice cornbread mix, from the East real maple syrup and pancakes to put it on, from the southwest some hotsauce and steak rubs. I thought about bringing a Long Island wine, since thats local to me, but they're beer drinkers, so I opted for a couple of bottles of Sam Adams instead, and that's as heavy a load as I want to drag with me. I think the idea of local foods and wines is perfect.
Not so easy to think of something Californian that wouldn't be Italian, as the climate is so similar!
Perhaps something reflecting Latino-American or First Nations heritage? I don't mean something tacky, but some good quality craft item, or a typical foodstuff. Not much authentic Mexican food in Italy - they are familiar with the Spanish component, but not the Native American side of that culture.
From Québec, of course I always have to take maple syrup (heavy...) but crêpes here are pretty much the same as they would be over there.
A bottle of whisky or such is always appreciated: even if people don't drink themselves they probably entertain people who do.
I do NOT think cheap confectionary products would be appreciated though.
Posts: 868 | Location: Montréal | Registered: 29 January 2006
We visited relatives in Milan and Rome last year. We took Jelly Belly packets, and they got some very odd looks. Thankfully we also took a box of some very deluxe chocolates and they were a hit. I'd purchased some Ivy League tees and sweatshirts for the teenaged relatives and brought some homemade apricot and berry jams for the adults.
What is unforgettable is the welcome we received from these most generous and open people - whom we had never met before. We could have shown up emptyhanded and been greeted just as warmly.
Posts: 780 | Location: Birch Bay, WA | Registered: 02 December 2002
I do NOT think cheap confectionary products would be appreciated though.
You certainly couldn't have been referring to Jelly Bellies--could you? After all they are the cadillac of jelly beans. Although, teen-agers and children are much more enthralled with them than with Godiva, we find that even the parents are caught with their hands in the jar sometimes Basically they are just a fun thing in the midst of more serious gifts.
Originally posted by s tenen: This trip I'm bringing American food - from the south, a nice cornbread mix, from the East real maple syrup and pancakes to put it on, from the southwest some hotsauce and steak rubs.
Just a word of advice, I think your ideas are great but make sure that if the mixes require US measurments (cups, tsp., tbsp., etc.) that you bring the measuring gadgets too. This is one thing I have seen happen way too many times, people bring the stuff over but then the person who receives the gift has no way to make the mixes. Also, if the instructions are in English, translate them. I still feel sorry for the family who got wild rice, had no way to measure it so just tried with Italian measurments and then they didn't know how to cook it so they "tried" to make risotto with it.
My bad - I didn't realise Jelly Bellies were the nec plus ultra of jellybeans! I've never seen them here. Jellybeans don't strike me as a thing Italians would like, but children might enjoy them.
Wild rice is also an excellent suggestion - I took some to friends in France and they loved it.
Posts: 868 | Location: Montréal | Registered: 29 January 2006
Yes, I lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years - first in Oakland, then Squirrel Hill, then South Hills. Had friends in Murrysville and Monroeville.
I work in Centreville, which is a little east of Manassas, and live a little east of Centerville.
This board continualy shows me what a small world we live in -- you know, that whole "six degrees of separation" thing. I'm continually amazed by the people I meet elsewhere who have connections to Pittsburgh (or other cities I've lived in). The last time we were in Rome, we (my husband, our teenaged daughters and their friend) were having dinner in a nice restaurant. It was our last night before leaving and our waiter was very jovial. There was an older American woman dining alone,and we ended up talking. Turns out she had lived here when her husband was an executive with Gulf Oil, and she knew one of my best friends!
Posts: 281 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA suburb | Registered: 04 June 2005
I do NOT think cheap confectionary products would be appreciated though.
Not necessarily. Because I am in Italy often, seeing the same people over and over, I frequently bring a little something for the suppliers I work with - I wouldn't call them gifts, just a little treat. I get pretty gift bags and tissue paper (I'm very into the packaging) and fill them with a mixture of chocolate minis: little Hershey bars, Milky Ways, Reeses, etc. and they go crazy over them. To me, our chocolate is crap compared to the European stuff, but it's the novelty of having something different - anything with peanuts or peanut butter is a big hit, because they don't have much of that over there.
Would I bring a bag of American junk food if I needed a nice hostess gift? Of course not. But for the people that welcome my groups to their store or factory or winery over and over, it seems to be a nice touch and they have never turned their noses up at my "cheap confectionary." In fact, it's usually all gone by the time we leave!
Yes - my wife and I were standing waiting for a train in one of the Cinque Terre towns. I started chatting with a young high school-aged lady. I had never met her, but it turned out her mother and I knew each other: we were members on the Commission for the Arts in our area. It's always amazing when that happens.
Posts: 351 | Location: Northern VA | Registered: 13 October 2004
Speaking of cheap confectionary items, my father-in-law told me his old uncle loved Raisinets. I wrote elsewhere that my kids want to bring Smores ingredients to make with their Italian cousins - I thought that was so cute!
Since I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, in the past I have brought Ghiradelli and Scharffenberger chocolates and Napa or Sonoma Valley wines for friends. I've also made fudge or brought along some See's candy.
Posts: 95 | Location: Oakland, CA | Registered: 04 February 2004
Anyone know if they have cranberries and blueberries in Italy? I was thinking of bringing some food items with these 2 fruits. We're from Jersey and cranberries are big in our state.
Craisins were very popular when I shared some. Blueberries we got. They are even used for some holistic medicines. *They are good against broken capillaries. We do have peanut butter, but it isn't so widely used as hazlenut. Cheddar is unknown here but liked when offered. I can buy it in Rome, but it isn't good stuff. I bought tons of the little envelopes of mixes when I was in the US last fall. I translated the quantities to weight and the directions. The peanut butter cookies were a smash hit. The cheddar biscuits were puzzling-- this because serving everything hot all at once is not part of the cuisine, so bread is rarely hot. The envelopes were easy to tuck in here and there. I've given up Mexican meals at my house for Italians, because they find "a little spicy" blazing hot. I still make non-US Mexican with green chilis, but anything hotter is inedible to them. A real gourmet Italian would probably like a small bottle of California olive oil, as various oils are sometimes appreciated as condiment. I haven't seen avocado oil here, but there is walnut oil here. One thing you face is that there is constant media reporting that US food is almost poisonous. Italians might even throw out what you'd so carefully carried if it is highly processed or too unfamiliar.
I was going to have my daughter burn some CD's for our teenage Italian cousins.
I'm loving all the ideas especially since I've been agonizing over what to bring. Luckily the family part of our visit is first thing so I won't have to carry the gifts during my travels.
Maria
Posts: 28 | Location: Exit 4, South Jersey | Registered: 22 May 2006
Topic Closed
Shell nightlites 
Although, teen-agers and children are much more enthralled with them than with Godiva, we find that even the parents are caught with their hands in the jar sometimes 
Basically they are just a fun thing in the midst of more serious gifts.