Perfect Foodie Gifts to Bring Home from Italy

I'm on my way to Italy with two different groups.  Often times on my tours I am asked by my clients what gifts are best to bring home  for their food-loving friends.  My answer depends on the district of the country in which the group is----each region has certain gourmet specialties.  Below I’ve listed my recommendations beginning with Umbria and Tuscany as that’s where Wine-Knows has rented villas this June, however, I’ve added ideas for many other regions.  My suggestions are based on the weight of the item, ease in packing it, perishability, and uniqueness.

Umbria

   ~ Umbria is world famous for its black truffles.  Truffle oil and truffle paste are great because they are not near as perishable as fresh truffles.

   ~ Nothing says Umbria like a piece of Deruta pottery for the kitchen.  There are all sizes and shapes of these colorful ceramics available, many of which never make it to the export market.

                                                             Deruta's tempting wares

Tuscany:

   ~ Vin Santo (a dessert wine often eaten with biscotti)  is a Tuscan tradition.  While available in the U.S., many of the boutique producers’ Vin Santo does not leave the country.  As it is frequently packaged in half bottles, it can easily be brought home packed in your suitcase.

                        Biscotti, another Tuscan specialty, pairs beautifully with Vin Santo

   ~ Finocchiona salami is a specialty of the Chianti wine region.  This savory deeply flavored salami is chocked full of local fennel.

Emilia Romagna:

   ~ The capitol of Italy’s gourmet cuisine, there’s a plethora of goodies to tempt you (e.g. home of Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma and Balsamic Vinegar).  Pasta attains true stardom in this region and you’ll see shapes and sizes that you’ll  never see again.  If packed between layers of clothes, a package of dry pasta weathers the journey home nicely.

                                Butterfly-shaped pasta in the colors of the Italian flag

   ~ Balsamic is in every grocery store these days, however, aged Balsamico is not.  Pickup a small bottle of 20 or 30 year old rich, aromatic, syrupy Balsamic for drizzling back home on fruit dessert (or add it at the last moment to a savory sauce for major complexity).

Amalfi Coast:

   ~ Gigantic lemons are one of the hallmarks of the coast.  While US customs forbids bringing them back, you can bring back a memory of them in the form of a kitchen towel, pot holder or even a small ceramic platter decorated by local artisans with colorful lemons.  All are very abundant in shops.

                              When life gives you monstrous lemons, make limoncello

  

~ Superbly yummy San Marzano tomoatoes are grown on the slopes of Mt Vesuvious which looms over the entire Amalfi Coast and Bay of Naples.  Tomato paste (double or triple concentrations are the best) are fabulous gifts to bring home…I usually buy a dozen and stick one in to a hostess gift.

  

                         Paste comes in 3 strengths:  regular (L), double (C), & triple (R) 

Sicily:

   ~Capers are available in every province in Italy, however, the Sicilian varietal is the pinnacle.  Dry-packaged in salt (which is rinsed before serving), these taste like no other caper you’ll ever have.  They are expensive but worth every Euro.    

                                 Meaty, plump capers like you're never had before

   ~Bottarga is another Sicilian specialty.  Somewhat like dried caviar, it is a salted and cured fish roe.  Expensive, it is often added in small amounts to pasta dishes, although it can also be served on a crostini.

Lombardy:

   ~ Northern Lombardy is home to polenta, risotto, Gorgonzola and Taleggio, all of which are widely available in the US.  It is also home to mostarda, a heavenly savory fruit condiment somewhat like chutney.  Served with meats or even cheeses, this labor-intensive delectable can make even the simplest dish into a masterpiece.

  

                                     Mostarda made from plums, pears, peaches & apricots

Piedmont:

   ~ Home to the Slow-Food movement, this northern most district that shares a border with France is one of my favorite for gourmet gifts.  Piedmont is synonymous with the white truffle, the King of truffles.  Truffle-centric gifts are everywhere from salami to truffle oil.  Truffle shavers are also available in every shop.

                  White truffles are so expensive that they require a shaver to thinly slice them

        

   ~ If it’s not summer, than one of the best gifts to bring home from Piedmont is gianduja, the marriage of chocolate and hazelnut.  Gianduja is an art-form here as exotic, imported cocoa beans are mixed with the smoky local hazelnut.   (If it is summer, bring home just the unusually rich, and intense local hazelnuts).

                                            A Italian marriage made in heaven 

BOLOGNA: Italy’s Ground Zero for Foodies

                                   Pasta Bolognese, one of the city's many specialties

If there ever was a town in Italy that could be considered the country’s gastronomic capital, it would have to be Bologna.  Located between Milan and Florence in the province of Emilia-Romagna, this place has everything for your last meal.  Pasta here  has become an art form;  always home-made, it is accompanied by the region’s world-famous Parmiggiano-Reggiano cheese and often includes another of the area’s culinary treasures…Prosciutto di Parma.  (Since this is a last meal, none of us should mind the added cream and butter that often accompany its rich cuisine). 

I arrived in Bologna a few days ago.  I had visited the city in the early 1980’s and fallenl in love with Emilia-Romagna cooking.  My husband, however, has never been.  To prepare him for our visit, I read Fred Plotkin’s description of the city from his book, Italy for the Gourmet Traveler::  “Bologna is a sensual paradise of fragrances, flavors, beautiful smiling people who frankly love life and all the pleasures it offers.”  It’s all that and more.

Just as I remember, the entire city is a treasure trove for eating.   While I’m not a fan of salami, today I passed deli’s that had mortadellas that were a foot tall (mortadella is another specialty of the area, something like our bologna lunchmeat in the US only bounding with flavor…and minus the artificial fillers).  Pasta shops are filled with a mind-boggling assortment of fresh products in every shape and size. My favorites are the filled pastas…in Bologna they can contain meat, cheese or vegetables (as it’s autumn, many are stuffed with pumpkin).  Last night I had a “I’ve-died-and-gone-to-heaven” rendition of pumpkin raviolis with an ethereal sage infused cream sauce that was topped with generous shavings of Parmiggiano.   Pasta Bolognese (one of my husband’s faves in the U.S.), was birthed in Bologna.  The classical sauce, which involves various cooking techniques such as sweating, sautéing and braising, is complex… and turns a simple pasta into sheer magic. 

Balsalmic vinegar is another famous food product of Emilia-Romagna.  Produced in Modena (45 minutes), acteo balsamico is an extraordinary ingredient in the local cuisine.  Almost every store in Bologna sells it, but remember, almost every store in Bologna sells something to do with food.  This, however, isn’t just any acteo balsamico…there are precious bottles of vinegar which are more than a 100 years old; also, young ones that are only 40 or 50 years of age.  Ounce for ounce, they’re almost as expensive as a Mouton-Rothchild.  We purchased a truffle-infused balsamico that was 20 years of age.  My husband, a great chef, loves to use aged balsalmico in sauces at the very end to “finish” the sauce.

Never been to Bologna?  Are you a John Grisham fan?   Don’t miss his fun read on the city, Playing for Pizza.  Grisham lived in Bologna the year he penned the humorous book and many of scenes and characters will catapult you instantly to this paradiso for food-lovers.