Holidays in the Mediterranean - what could be more beautiful? Pure water, bright sunshine, light breeze and soft sand will be remembered for a long time after your trip. If you collect souvenirs on every trip abroad, it will not be superfluous to think in advance about what to bring home from Italy. Do not forget about your friends, who probably asked you to buy something interesting for them.
Choosing the best place for shopping in Europe
When you have exactly decided on the purpose of your visit, as well as what to bring home from Italy, you should choose the date of the trip. Inveterate shopping lovers know that in spring and autumn in Rome and other major cities of the country you can visit a huge number of sales. Outlets are also very popular here - shops where you can buy new and good-quality items that simply went out of fashion. In no case do not confuse them with second-hand points where secondary things are sold.
If you want to buy something in one of the local markets, be extremely careful and careful. Here you can buy quality souvenirs, but bags, shoes and clothes need to be carefully inspected, since approximately 50% of them are fakes of low quality.
Be sure to visit Milan: it is here that you can find dealerships and boutiques of almost all fashion houses that are popular. Most of them are located in Plaza de España, located in the heart of the city. Somewhat smaller number of shops are different Turin, Venice, Rome and other Italian settlements.
Let's get the state symbols
Souvenirs from Italy will give you and your loved ones many more pleasant minutes, so you need to approach their choice properly. Those who are fond of sports will enjoy things that depict the symbols of various football and racing teams; they are sold here at every step. Particularly popular among them are small copies of racing cars.
Do you appreciate the beautiful? Then be sure to go to Venice and get there figurines and jewelry made of Venetian glass. For several centuries, the process of creating this glass was a mystery behind seven seals, and all those glassblowers who tried to resell secret knowledge were killed. Today, methods are no longer being monitored for safety, and therefore absolutely everyone has the opportunity to create such products.
As souvenirs from Italy you can bring figurines made of volcanic lava or sand, they can be purchased for 2-3 euros. Some tourists specially visit the crater of Etna and bring home a fragment of real solidified lava from there. You can follow their example and surprise your friends and acquaintances with an unusual novelty.
Warm up in the winter not only with memories
Fur coats from Italy are another reason to spend a vacation in this beautiful country. Despite the fact that they began to engage in the production of fur relatively recently, at the end of the 19th century, local craftsmen in a short time became real professionals in their field. Today, in the world market, Italian fur coats have a number of advantages compared to others, the most important of which is high quality.
It is worth noting that the raw materials for processing go to workshops from Denmark, since Italians do not have their own material. But local craftsmen are happy to sell patterns that allow you to create the most fashionable and stylish fur coats. They are bought up by intermediaries from various countries of the world who subsequently produce cheaper analogs that are significantly inferior in quality to the originals.
Fur coats from all over the world from Italy are produced near Rome, San Marino and Milan. When visiting the capital, you can buy local fur products at De Nicola and Fendi boutiques, and while in Milan, be sure to check out the prestigious Paolo Moretti and Simonetta Ravizza stores. And yes, be prepared in advance for the fact that fur coats are not cheap, but their really high quality justifies the price.
Save money by traveling!
A huge margin on Italian luxury shoes does not allow many ladies to buy it in Russian stores. It is quite another matter if you are in the country of manufacture of your favorite shoes - here you can buy them 2-3 times cheaper. Experienced tourists say that medium-quality shoes can be bought for 50-60 dollars (2500-3000 Russian rubles). Elite models will cost about 90-100 dollars, depending on the material and season.
If even such a price doesn’t suit you too much, pay attention to the spatch shops that operate in the factories producing the products. It is in them that you can find things from past seasons at fairly low prices, in some cases there are also items that meet the trends of the season. Italian luxury shoes in such outlets can be purchased at a discount of up to 50%.
If you have an exhibition shoe size, then the price of the pair you like in the match could be reduced by 70%. You can get products from genuine Italian leather at any time of the year, but it is best to go for shoes and boots in summer and winter: that is when a large number of sales take place here. It should be borne in mind that such stores are most often located outside the city, but the cost of the trip is small compared to the savings that you get when buying shoes in this country.
We are looking for a suitable outfit
To bring home quality clothes from Italy, you don’t need to take a lot of money with you. When traveling, pay attention to stores called Upim and Standa, as well as to cooperative retail outlets - there is a large selection of high-quality and relatively inexpensive clothes. Exclusive lovers should go to Rome and Milan, where a huge number of boutiques with goods from the most famous fashion designers of the whole world are located.
Russian tourists are advised to go to the south of Italy, where prices are much lower, while the quality of clothes remains the same. According to them, all the clothes from Italy, which are sold in our country, are cheap consumer goods, actively sold at various sales. These high-quality goods simply do not get into our country, so it is better to go to Rome on your own for shopping.
Save on branded items
Inveterate fashionistas know that it is necessary to select original designer accessories for clothes, including handbags. Italian manufacturers offer a huge number of models in various colors and sizes. Among the expensive branded bags in Italy, copies from the Furla brand are common, most of them are suitable even for jeans, which is the key to their popularity. Models from this manufacturer cost an average of 6-7 thousand rubles in local stores, in Russia the price of them can be increased to 15 thousand.
It is much more profitable to buy bags here from world famous manufacturers - Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton. They are made of genuine leather and are much cheaper than those sold in Russian stores. Animal lovers should pay attention to the brand models from Stella McCartney: the designer is the protector of our smaller brothers and never uses genuine leather to create their models.
Becoming even more beautiful
Beauty tourism in Russia is not widespread so far, but European ladies consider it quite normal for themselves to go to neighboring countries for their favorite means of beauty and health. If you are traveling abroad for the first time and don’t know what cosmetics to bring home from Italy, get it only in pharmacies: this way you can avoid fakes. Among the manufacturers of body care products are Bottega Verde, Helan, Guam and Frais Monde. They create their products based on environmentally friendly materials, as a result of which their products are in great demand.
Decorative cosmetics in Italy is also represented quite widely, in Russia the most famous of them is Pupa. But she has a huge number of competitors in the Mediterranean country who also produce high-quality products - Kiko Milano, Cera di Cupra, Wycon, etc. For hair care products from brands such as Brelil and Davines are perfect, and for perfume you can go to Acqua di Parma, where all the aromas are created exclusively on oils.
Choosing treats for relatives
Experienced tourists believe that when traveling to the Apennines you need to get not only souvenir products, but also food, because the local cuisine is one of the most delicious in all of Europe. You can argue for a long time about what products to bring from Italy, but it is simply impossible to pass by pasta and olive oil. The first product is presented in almost 300 varieties, and the second one can be tried and selected right on the farm for little money.
Another product that must necessarily be brought from Italy to Russia is cheese. Only here you can taste the famous Parmesan, which was invented more than 1000 years ago by the Benedictians. It is created only from natural products, after which they give it several years to ripen, so that it gets the famous brackish and at the same time sweetish flavor. In addition to it, you can buy the original Gorgonzola - cheese with mold, which is sold here literally at every step.
We buy delicacies
You are unlikely to find Parma ham in domestic stores - a delicacy that is created according to an unusual recipe for a whole year. Such meat is used in the preparation of pizza, veal and fruit salads, however, it is not so easy to get it: you will have to go for it in the vicinity of Parma.
If it seems to you that there is nothing more to bring from Italy, then you forgot about local wines - the visiting card of this state. Each of its regions has its own popular drinks: somewhere they prefer to drink Chianti, and somewhere they cost prosecco to our friends. When choosing wines, pay attention to the labels, which always indicate the type of drink: Dolce (sweet), Secco (dry), Amablie (semi-sweet), Vinsanto (dessert) and Abboccato (semi-dry).
We make children happy
You can not ignore your kids, who were unable to travel with you, because they also want to feel the spirit of the famous European state. When parents decide what to bring from Italy to the child, they most often stop at local sweets. Delicious chocolate products can be purchased in Turin. Particular attention should be paid to products from the Amedi factory; they are appreciated in many European countries for their high quality. The most popular products here are the "Amaretti" and "Tiramisu" cakes. If you purchase them for children, make sure that they are non-alcoholic.
Some parents, thinking about what to bring home from Italy, recall their childhood and purchase dolls for their children. The most popular of them, of course, is Pinocchio - a local version of Pinocchio, beloved by Russian children.
We stock up trinkets for colleagues and acquaintances
When all the presents for relatives have been bought, it's time to think about what you can bring from Italy as a gift for your friends. The easiest way to buy souvenirs is kitchen aprons, cookbooks, calendars with captured local nature or monuments of history and architecture. Every Italian city has a souvenir shop where you can buy all this at ridiculous prices.
If you find yourself in Venice, be sure to buy some carnival masks, they usually cost from 3 to 20 dollars. Magnets, statuettes of emperors, figurines of heroes of the famous tragedy from the clans of Montecca and Capulet - it’s not enough just to get them, you also need to bring them to Russia safe and sound. To do this, ask the seller to pack purchases in several layers of paper, you will not be denied this.
Remember the requirements of carriers
Once you have decided what to bring home from Italy, you will definitely need scales to clarify the mass of all souvenirs purchased. Each airline has a certain number of baggage requirements that will need to be met, otherwise you will have to pay a tidy sum for the advantage.
There is an alternative option: send a parcel to Russia with those souvenirs that did not fit into your suitcase. You can do this at any post office (in Italian they are called Poste Italiane), or at a paid delivery service department (such as DHL), where you need to notify the operator that you want to send EMS.
We comply with Russian law
Fill out the form with block letters and honestly indicate what exactly will be in the package (the operator has the right to check it), as well as the approximate cost of all the things that are in it. You can send a parcel up to 30 kg, while the price of the contents should not exceed 1000 euros. Such a restriction on the acceptance of correspondence is valid in Russia - if it is violated, then you will have to pay an additional fee.
After registration, you will receive a special address form with which you can track the current fate of your parcel. As a result, everything that you purchased on the Apennine Peninsula will reach your home intact and will for a long time remind you of the wonderful days spent in the Mediterranean.