What to Buy in Italy: 13 Gifts, Supermarket Finds and Pharmacy Must-Haves.

Ciao! There is always one last space in the suitcase.

Maybe you have already bought pasta for your mother, a little something for a friend, and a magnet you did not need but could not leave behind. Now you want to find the things that are genuinely worth bringing home.

I moved to Italy in 2013, and this is what I have learned: the best Italian gifts are often ordinary things Italians buy every day. A good coffee. A packet of biscuits from the supermarket. A soap from an erboristeria. A toothpaste that makes brushing your teeth feel unexpectedly elegant.

Here is what to buy in Italy if you want gifts people will actually use.

Contents

• A Moka pot from Bialetti
• Italian coffee for the moka
• Notebooks from an Italian cartoleria
• Small souvenirs, including magnets
• Italian textiles and useful things for the home
• Italian biscuits and supermarket treats
• Classic extra virgin olive oil
• Pasta is worth bringing home
• Italian toothpaste from the farmacia
• Italian beauty products
• Italian soaps from Acqua & Sapone and Tigotà
• L’Erbolario and the joy of an erboristeria
• One thing that belongs only to the place you visited

1. A moka pot from Bialetti

A Bialetti Moka Express is still one of the best things to buy in Italy.

Choose a 2-cup or 3-cup version if it is for one person or a couple. It is practical, recognisable, and easy to pack. Prices usually start around €25 and rise depending on the size and collection.

For someone who loves Italian design, look at special editions. The recent Bialetti x Dolce&Gabbana Moka Express is inspired by Sicilian colours and the carretto siciliano. It is a gift, not an everyday bargain.

Guzzini is another Italian brand worth knowing, but for colourful kitchen accessories: trays, containers, salad servers, fruit bowls, and water bottles.

Alessi is a beautiful option too if your budget is higher.

2. Italian coffee for the moka

A moka without coffee is a little sad, no?

Lavazza is the easiest choice and is sold in almost every Italian supermarket. Look for Qualità Rossa, Qualità Oro, Crema e Gusto, or Espresso Italiano. A 250 g pack usually costs around €3 to €6 and more.

Illy is more polished and makes a good present thanks to its iconic tins. It is usually around €7 to €10 for 250 g.

Then there is Kimbo from Naples, Caffè Borbone, Segafredo, Caffè Vergnano, Pellini, and Romcaffè. Italians do not all drink the same coffee. Ask a local person what they buy at home and you may start a very serious conversation.

If you visit a smaller town, look for a local torrefazione. A bag of coffee from a neighbourhood roaster is a much better souvenir than another airport purchase.

3. Notebooks from an Italian cartoleria

Do not skip the cartoleria.

Pigna is an Italian classic. Its exercise books and stationery have been part of Italian school life for generations. A simple Pigna notebook is inexpensive, cheerful, and very Italian.

Fabriano is a beautiful choice for someone who writes, sketches, or loves paper. Look for notebooks, sketchbooks, letter paper, or a small journal. You can find simple options from around €5, while more refined collections cost more.

Moleskine is a Milan-based Italian brand and easy to find in bookshops, museums, and airport shops.

Legami Milano is another lovely option for pens, notebooks, pencil cases, bookmarks, and small gifts.

4. Small souvenirs, including magnets

Yes, a magnet can be a good souvenir.

Choose one from a museum bookshop, a local illustrator, a cartoleria, or a small independent shop. In Milan, Florence, Rome, Bologna, Venice, and other large cities, check tabaccherie, newsstands, bookshops, and stationery shops too.

A small magnet usually costs around €3 to €8. It is perfect when you need an easy gift for a colleague, a neighbour, or someone you almost forgot to buy for. It happens.

5. Italian textiles and useful things for the home

Look for tea towels, embroidered napkins, potholders, aprons, small tablecloths, fabric shopping bags, or kitchen textiles.

These are the things that make a kitchen feel more personal without filling the whole suitcase. Small mercerie and local homeware shops are often the best places to find them.

In Lombardy, Tuscos Merceria Mariano is a lovely example of the kind of local shop worth visiting. Florence, look beyond the busiest streets for small artisan and paper shops. In Rome, explore neighbourhood markets and independent stores. Le Marche region, local markets often have objects that feel more personal than a standard tourist souvenir.

6. Italian biscuits and supermarket treats

Italian supermarkets are full of things that look ordinary to locals and become very good gifts for visitors.

Start with Mulino Bianco: Pan di Stelle, Abbracci, Baiocchi, Ritornelli, Nascondini, and Tarallucci. They are easy to find in almost every supermarket and usually cost around €2 to €4 per packet.

Then look for Pavesi: Gocciole, Ringo, Togo, and Pavesini.

Fiesta from Ferrero is another Italian supermarket classic. It is a small chocolate cake with orange and a little liqueur flavour. Very Italian. Very recognisable. Not ideal if your suitcase will spend all day in summer heat. Pocket Coffee is another Ferrero classic, but it is also best avoided in a hot suitcase. Chocolate has its limits, even in Italy.

7. Classic extra virgin olive oil

Buy classic olio extra vergine di oliva. No truffle oil, chilli oil, strange flavours that will sit untouched in a cupboard.

If you visit an olive-producing area, buying directly from a small producer is wonderful. In the Marche, Tuscany, Puglia, Liguria, Umbria, and Sicily, you can find beautiful oils.

But do not ignore Italian supermarkets. They often have very good organic and non-organic options. Look for “extra virgin olive oil”, Italian origin, and the harvest date if it is shown.

Expect to spend around €8 to €15 for a good supermarket bottle. Pack it only in checked luggage and wrap it carefully.

8. Pasta is worth bringing home

Not every pasta packet needs to become a souvenir. Choose one that is genuinely different from what you can buy at home.

Look for Rummo, De Cecco, Garofalo, La Molisana, Voiello, Barilla.

In supermarkets, good pasta usually costs around €1.20 to €3.50 for 500 g. Artisan pasta can cost €4 to €8 or more.

Choose interesting shapes: paccheri, mafaldine, trofie, orecchiette, strozzapreti, pappardelle, or bucatini. Add a simple Italian recipe when you give it as a gift and it becomes something much more personal.

Here is a simple Italian pasta recipe to make at home.

9. Italian toothpaste from the farmacia

The Italian pharmacy is not only for medicine.

Marvis is the obvious name. Classic Strong Mint, Jasmine Mint, Cinnamon Mint, and Licorice Mint are fun to try, beautifully packaged, and easy to gift. Prices are usually around €5 to €10, depending on the size.

But do not stop at Marvis. Look for Pasta del Capitano and Antica Erboristeria too. They are Italian oral-care brands and a surprisingly good suitcase find.

Small, practical, and more original than a keyring. What else do we want?

10. Italian beauty products

For an everyday Italian beauty find, look for Acqua alle Rose. Its rose water, toners, face creams, and small skincare products are easy to find in pharmacies, supermarkets, Acqua & Sapone, and Tigotà.

Helan, La Saponaria, and Botega Verde are other Italian names worth looking for in pharmacies, especially for skincare and sun care.

For a more expensive gift, Santa Maria Novella in Florence is special. Its soaps, perfumes, and body products are beautiful and feel distinctly Italian. Acqua di Parma is another high-end Italian option for fragrance and home products.

Avoid choosing strong active skincare for another person. A hand cream, soap, lip balm, or body cream is much easier to give.

11. Italian soaps from Acqua & Sapone and Tigotà

A good soap is one of the easiest gifts from Italy.

Check Acqua & Sapone, Tigotà, supermarkets, pharmacies, and erboristerie. Look for Nesti Dante, Felce Azzurra, and I Provenzali.

Nesti Dante soaps are beautifully wrapped and make a lovely present. Felce Azzurra is everyday Italian life: familiar, practical, and usually affordable.

A small soap usually costs around €2 to €8. Buy two. You will probably keep one.

12. L’Erbolario and the joy of an erboristeria

An erboristeria is a little treasure chest.

L’Erbolario is the first Italian brand I would look for. It has hand creams, soaps, shower gels, perfumes, body creams, room fragrances, herbal teas, and gift sets. The brand’s products are made in Italy, and its stores are easy to find across the country.

For a small gift, choose a hand cream, soap, lip balm, or shower gel. For something more special, choose a perfume, body cream, or gift set.

Leave supplements and herbal remedies out of your souvenir list unless you know exactly what the other person uses.

13. One thing that belongs only to the place you visited

This is the rule I would keep if you buy only one thing.

Choose something linked to the city, town, or region where you spent time: a small illustration, coffee from a local roaster, a notebook from a quiet cartoleria, a ceramic bowl, or a packet of biscuits you had never seen before.

The best gifts from Italy are not always famous. They are the things that bring you back to a market, a rainy afternoon, a small shop, or an espresso drunk quickly at the bar.

Allora… what would you save space for in your suitcase?

Ciao cacao!