Finding vitamins/supplements?

If it were me, I would take everything I absolutely required. I have traveled a lot of countries with supplements just in ziplock bags with a Sharpie label on what they are. I don't like to waste my travel time trying to find something and risk crazy high prices or no source.

You can find supplements in the following places (from less expensive to more expensive):
Supermarket
Parafarmacia
Farmacia
However I’m not sure you will find the specific product or brand you are used for, or if you need to buy a local brand.
If you must have a specific brand, and doesn’t take a lot of suitcase space, you are safer if you bring it from home. If you don’t, then any pharmacy can suggest a product you can take for your ailment. Lots of Italians are dairy intolerant, so they have products.

Jaunty,

I'd suggest bringing what you need from home to last the duration of your trip. While I'm sure you can find similar products in Italy, the formulations may be slightly different. They may also be marketed under a different name (I've found that to be the case with prescription medication).

We've lived in Italy for 8 months. While much is available, sometimes it's time consuming and frustrating to figure out 1) What it's called in Italy 2) where to buy 3) how it's packaged 4) brand names and branding are completely different 5) and depending on where you are looking, strong potential of language barrier. The time to get through the 5 steps might be easy, or a whole day adventure. Take enough with you!

As an example, it took 6 months to find popcorn kernels. (not with chips and snacks- not with microwave popcorn), but with all the seeds packaged goods (pumpkin, sesame, etc). We can buy Flonase at the farmacia, but it's expensive. So as we have friends visit from US, we stock up.

In general OTC medications are more expensive here than US.

Thank you everyone. Your replies rather strongly suggested it would be best to bring necessary items with me.

Grazie, John T