Souvenirs

As a newbie to Europe -

What is your favorite souvenir(s) (for you and/or family including kids) that you have brought home (and why).

We'll be visiting Venice, Naples, Rome, Florence/Pisa/Tuscany

Ceramics and leather goods from Florence; not cheap---the cheap leather goods are probably from China. In Venice, Murano glass---again, the cheap stuff will be from China.

In some places we have purchased wooden bowls and wooden cheese boards made in Italy. If you were going to Sorento I would recommend looking at music boxes.

How old are the kids?

Keith

In some places we have purchased wooden bowls and wooden cheese boards made in Italy. If you were going to Sorento I would recommend looking at music boxes.

 

How old are the kids?

 

Keith

We will be in Sorrento! Kids ages range from 3-12 (4boys 1 girl)

Tyskie, many of the music boxes that you'll see in other parts of Italy come from Sorrento. They make something very special to remember the trip. In addition to looking at some of the stores that carry them in the main square in Sorrento go up and down some of the side streets for better prices.

For children there are wooden puppets such as Pinocchio.

Keith

Use SEARCH THIS FORUM with the word "souvenier" or "souvenir", you'll find that this question has been asked and answered many times. A search will provide you with LOTS of great responses.

The only shopping I do is if someone asks for a specific item for their collection. I'm not a shopper anyway, so I prefer not to waste valuable vacation time in stores when I travel, HOWEVER, I have picked up a few water colors/etchings from street vendors as I walk thru town. Easy to roll up and pack, then frame them when I get home.

Tyskie, many of the music boxes that you'll see in other parts of Italy come from Sorrento. They make something very special to remember the trip. In addition to looking at some of the stores that carry them in the main square in Sorrento go up and down some of the side streets for better prices.

 

For children there are wooden puppets such as Pinocchio.

Thank you...........would never had known about the music boxes - lately I've been on information overload :eek:

 

Keith

Use SEARCH THIS FORUM with the word "souvenier" or "souvenir", you'll find that this question has been asked and answered many times. A search will provide you with LOTS of great responses. I do use the search all the time - not a newbie to CC - just haven't seen much lately.

 

The only shopping I do is if someone asks for a specific item for their collection. I'm not a shopper anyway, so I prefer not to waste valuable vacation time in stores when I travel, HOWEVER, I have picked up a few water colors/etchings from street vendors as I walk thru town. Easy to roll up and pack, then frame them when I get home.I too am not a shopper in the true sense of the word - especially on vacation/touring. Thought some ideas might be helpful to cut down on the shopping time. Appreciate you input :)

 

We're at the point of down-sizing now so something small along with our pictures will be our memory of what we hope to be an amazing time abroad.

We always look for a jigsaw puzzle that depicts places we've been to, that way we are reminded of the trip and share stories about it while working on the puzzles at home in the dead of winter.

We always look for a jigsaw puzzle that depicts places we've been to, that way we are reminded of the trip and share stories about it while working on the puzzles at home in the dead of winter.

Good one! We always do a puzzle or 2 in FL during the winter.;)

I like to buy the next year calendar for all our appointments - great reminder too.

From Port of Naples, we did an excursion to Pompeii and then Sorrento and Positano. In Sorrento and Positano I bought lots of hand painted Italian ceramic dishes, olive oil and vinegar set, carafe, bowls, platters and had them all mailed to my house. Since I didn't have a lot of time, I just went in the stores and picked what I wanted very quickly. I believe I spent $2,000 - TOTALLY WORTH IT for my extra special planned purchase! 6 weeks later, the items arrived at my home in perfect condition. To this day, I use them all the time and remember the wonderful day on the Amalfi Coast.

So many kids are into soccer, so I brought my granddaughters backpacks from a couple of the teams. Nice to have the extra carrying ability in ports, too. The kids tell me they were BIG hits with their peers in school.

Personally, I buy a kitchen trinket from each trip. Last time, a cork wine topper with a ceramic top. I use it fairly often, and always smile at the lemons and the word "Sorrento" on it! Cost me about five dollars!

From Port of Naples, we did an excursion to Pompeii and then Sorrento and Positano. In Sorrento and Positano I bought lots of hand painted Italian ceramic dishes, olive oil and vinegar set, carafe, bowls, platters and had them all mailed to my house. Since I didn't have a lot of time, I just went in the stores and picked what I wanted very quickly. I believe I spent $2,000 - TOTALLY WORTH IT for my extra special planned purchase! 6 weeks later, the items arrived at my home in perfect condition. To this day, I use them all the time and remember the wonderful day on the Amalfi Coast.

So many kids are into soccer, so I brought my granddaughters backpacks from a couple of the teams. Nice to have the extra carrying ability in ports, too. The kids tell me they were BIG hits with their peers in school. My grands are not that old and not into soccer (but I am, lol) good suggestion though

 

Personally, I buy a kitchen trinket from each trip. Last time, a cork wine topper with a ceramic top. I use it fairly often, and always smile at the lemons and the word "Sorrento" on it! Cost me about five dollars!

I always buy a small item that can be hung on the Xmas tree. Sometimes a key chain, a small doll or toy. Or whatever I find in my travels so that every year when we trim the tree we can say remember that day ......

Of all the things my kids (6 & 8 then) could choose to bring home from our Med cruise, they picked refrigerator magnets. The great things was the were inexpensive, they could get one for each city/area and we see them daily and use them to hang their schoolwork.

We also bought books/guides at major attractions to look back over at home to learn more about what we saw.

My daughter chose mini snow globes for her treasures.

My souvenir was some Deruta pottery from Sorrento.

Naturally, we acquired som Tshirts too.

Venice has some beautiful leather shops with good prices near San Marco. You can buy handbags, little change purses or gloves.

In Florence I bought a nice gold necklace, nothing fancy, but still special, that I wear every day. I'm not sure of the gold prices nowadays, but at least look;)

In Tuscany olive oil.

I'll usually bring back at least one scarf from where I travel to. They take up virtually no space, weigh virtually nothing. I'm a scarf junkie, so no scarf goes unused ;-)

If I'm in Italy, I try to find one little piece of ceramics to bring home. All my kitchen cupboards have knobs on them that I've bought on various trips. It's fun to have them all different and it brings back memories every day. I bought a "attenti al cane" ("beware of dog") tile that I have at my front door.

Now, I've bought some larger ceramics and had them shipped home. And, if I know I'm in the "need" of something new in the way of leather goods, I make sure that I have room for them when I pack FOR my trip.

Thanks for so many different ideas :)

We picked up some murano glass Jewellery, scarves, leather bracelets, but my favorite were bracelets we picked up at Mount Vesuvius with beads made from lava.