What should I ask my brother to bring me from Italy?

December 29, 2004 10:32 AM

My brother is in Italy (Venice and Vicenza area, mostly) for the next two weeks. What goodies should I demand he bring back? I'm not into coffee or wine.
posted by Soliloquy to Shopping (22 answers total)

Well, he's in the amarone region so if you were ever going to get into wine this would be a good time.

Oh, the main Prada outlet is in a little town called Montevarchi, near Arezzo, if he wants to make a little autostrada trip. Terrific bargains.

There's always ciocciolato.
posted by nicwolff at 10:43 AM on December 29, 2004

maybe murano glass if you're into that sort of thing (some of the work struck me as really tacky, but some of it is really quite beautiful, so it depends on your brother's taste.) I brought quite a few pieces of this back when I went to venice -- it's actually pretty inexpensive, although that may have changed since my trip since the dollar is so wonderfully crappified (i went in 2000).

OR! if you were a big ass fan of "Eyes Wide Shut"* or just like carnavale masks, have him pick up a couple of those. They're hand painted and again, pretty inexpensive for the price, but he's going to need to be careful packing them for the return (I ended up carrying them on the plane) because they'll break REALLY easily.

* the place that did the masks for "eyes wide shut" is in venice; that's where i bought my masks from. They were around $30 each for the painted ones, less for unpainted models
posted by fishfucker at 10:49 AM on December 29, 2004

carnevale masks

and here, how much importers want for them. $150? fuck that noise.

er. above should read "pretty inexpensive for the craftsmanship invovled"
posted by fishfucker at 10:52 AM on December 29, 2004

this is a public service anouncement on behalf of those selfish people that don't want to have to worry, while on holiday, about finding nice presents for people who don't really want anything, and certainly don't need anything, but ask anyway.
posted by andrew cooke at 11:01 AM on December 29, 2004

I know you say you're not into wine, but I take that to be different from champagne (though this could be misguided -- it's all wine, ain't it?). If you're not opposed to champagne, try Processco from that region. It's very good.

Pain to lug around the bottles, though.

If you're into soccer (or just want to look euro-cool), you can pick up Italian or other European soccer jerseys. I love my Ajax Amsterdam one brought to me by a friend.
posted by zpousman at 11:03 AM on December 29, 2004

There is also Burano with the lace factories where you can get curtains, bedsheets, tablecloths.....etc....
posted by Gooney at 11:09 AM on December 29, 2004

The fleeting memory of fresh porcini mushrooms.
posted by Caviar at 11:14 AM on December 29, 2004

Plastic jewelry is really popular in Italy. There are some really nice designs. It's also small for ease of transporting and affordable too.

My very favorite bracelet was a black plastic 3" cuff, which only cost 15e in Florence. I was really bummed when I lost it in NYC last month.
posted by Juicylicious at 11:54 AM on December 29, 2004

The wine is actually Prosecco :)

Also: olive oil, olives, cheese, and I third the suggestion for the masks... I bought one here (at Malabar) for an Eyes Wide Shut party a friend of mine threw-- $100 and change!!! Get 'em cheaper. Pack in bubble wrap and straw and a good stiff box (even better, ship via FedEx or something-- they're better at handling delicate objects).
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 12:03 PM on December 29, 2004

Campagnolo components. Shimano works better and is cheaper, but man, those Campy parts are like jewelry. They shine like freakin' mirrors!
posted by fixedgear at 12:26 PM on December 29, 2004

My XSO brought me back a carnevale mask and a piece of practice glasswork from one of the glass factories, as thank-yous for watching the cats. The mask always gets lots of comments (it's a child's plague-bird mask), and the practice slug is a lovely piece of colored, guilded slag that sits happily with my more finished and elaborate glass pieces.

If you're into either of these things, they're good hints to drop.
posted by lodurr at 12:41 PM on December 29, 2004

i just had lunch with a friend of mine who returned from italy, and she says everything is WAY more expensive now, as italy largely just changed everything from lire direct to euro -- meaning stuff that went for $5 when i was there costs about $13 now. So it's quite possible those masks are up to around $100 in italy anyways.

still. cool stuff.
posted by fishfucker at 3:39 PM on December 29, 2004

"italy largely just changed everything from lire direct to euro"

Wouldn't the masks cost hundreds of thousands of Euros then?

Personally, I thought Italy was expensive pre-Euro, and expensive post-Euro, so it didn't have much effect.
posted by smackfu at 4:11 PM on December 29, 2004

"italy largely just changed everything from lire direct to euro"

Wouldn't the masks cost hundreds of thousands of Euros then?

No, there was still an exchange rate. Jesus.

Get some truffle laced cheese, its reasonable and adds to food deliciously, tartufflo or something like that. Very good on lasagne.
posted by biffa at 4:51 PM on December 29, 2004

Jesus has nothing to do with it. What is normally meant by "changing prices directly" in this context is that the only thing that is changed is the symbol. The actual exchange rate is ignored or treated as 1.0. Like how Germany changed a lot of things from being priced at 1 DM to 1 Euro, which was actually a steep price increase. That doesn't really apply to Italy since the exchange rate was very high, and a direct conversion would lead to order of magnitude price changes. Maybe fishfucker meant something different though.
posted by smackfu at 5:26 PM on December 29, 2004

yeah, sorry. I meant they converted what was the dollar unit in lire to the euro.

by dollar unit, i mean basically the base unit that comprises a dollar of value in italy (i'm not a economist, so cut me a break here). for example, using this terminology the pound would be
the uk's dollar unit.

ie, if 1,000 lire is normally considered 1 dollar unit, then 1,000 lire is now 1 euro.

so there's no orders of magnitude involved.

of course, i think you know what i meant, but i hope this clarifies it.
posted by fishfucker at 6:04 PM on December 29, 2004

and pre-euro i found italy really cheap, as was germany and the netherlands. France was still pretty expensive, the uk and switzerland were nuts. I'm sure they're all worse now.
posted by fishfucker at 6:06 PM on December 29, 2004

piggybacking: thanks for the tips (and especially the practice slabs of murano)--i'm going there fri : >

food is tricky--there are lots of things we're not allowed to bring home.
posted by amberglow at 6:12 PM on December 29, 2004

Venice is a haven for gifts, you lucky lass.

1. There are tons of lace & fabric stores that sell anything from handkerchiefs to tablecloths. The embroidery is meticulous. And world-famous yarn, too.

2. Anything you can imagine in glass they have. Even little animals.

3. outstanding paper and stationary.

4. candy everywhere

5. pens, stationary seals, etc.

6. torta veneziana al pistacchio!
posted by naxosaxur at 9:51 PM on December 29, 2004

a little more:

expensive glass at murano! more candy. and i forgot wonderful leather goods & gloves.

buon viaggio, amberglow!!
posted by naxosaxur at 10:37 PM on December 29, 2004

my old boss brought back some italian chocolate. damn good. (because it's apparently mostly made with venezuelan beans, but that's another story).
posted by caution live frogs at 6:18 AM on December 30, 2004

If you love jewelry, dispatch your brother to Marina & Susanna Sent posthaste. The two sisters' designs are lovely and the prices are reasonable. The shop is in Campo San Vio in Dorsoduro, near the Peggy Guggenheim Museum.
posted by initapplette at 7:23 AM on December 30, 2004