Travel Souvenirs for Italy

You will find reasonably priced sterling silver charms if you keep an eye out. I started a travel charm bracelet on my first trip to Europe in 1980 and it's a treasured reminder of many great trips. I have never failed to find a charm to add to it, on any trip to Europe. I have several from Italy. Don't expect to find them in "souvenir stores." Go into jewelry stores. Other things to bring home from Italy: a leather handbag or wallet, a colorful handpainted ceramic piece for your kitchen counter that will be both beautiful and practical. I love the oil and vinegar set that I brought home from one of my trips. I like to buy street art as well . . . small and inexpensive watercolor pieces, for example. The question about what your son may like to start to collect is a difficult one!

Thank you Vickie! Is there a specific size or brand of bracelet that I can get ahead of time for Mother's Day that will work with the charms you're talking about? I know Pandora is big in the U.S. but charms can be pricey and not sure if that's the way to go for Italian travel.

Mine is just a simple link bracelet with dangling charms. Very traditional. Most jewelry stores in the U.S. should have them. I prefer this to the Pandora design.

Pandora has a very specific charm style with a hole going through the center of the charm and you thread the charm directly on the bracelet. I would think most other charms dangle from the bracelet and attach with a jump ring. I am from the south and James Avery is/was a popular place for that style of charm bracelet. A basic "chain link" style bracelet from them in sterling silver costs $50 but does go up from there depending on style and metal. I am sure something similar can be found at any jewelry store at many price points.

For me, a "collection" of only one specific item would not be interesting as I would prefer to pick up things that catch my eye in different areas. Jewelry and scarves are great because they remind me of my trip when I wear them and are lightweight and small to pack. Florence is known for leather goods and Venice is known for glass. Like a previous poster we often pick up small pieces of pottery or artwork that we find interesting.

Thank you both!! I appreciate your thoughts and ideas.

As for your son...local soccer/football team jerseys, tee-shirts or other fan items like keychains stickers or magnets...Italy lives, eats and breathes football! Enjoy your trip! Make sure that your children know a few words for emergencies and the 112 tel. # is our 911.
I also recommend that they each have the current card from the hotel that you are staying at in each area on their person so they can always just take a taxi back to the hotel and have the front desk pay the bill if needed if they ever get separated from you. Having a meeting place at every site you visit is also a good idea....get lost meet at main ticket booth or gift shop whatever. :)

Enjoy!

Pandora and other jewelry lines are all over Italy. You can find all kinds of travel charms in jewelry stores that are good quality (avoid stamped "PRC" - Peoples' Republic of China), usually sold at market stalls but also in some nicer stores.

For your son, soccer jerseys or the less expensive soccer team scarves, although either will take up some space in the suitcase if you buy enough of them.

James Avery was going to be my suggestion for purchasing the bracelet, too. They make beautiful sterling silver jewelry and if you're lucky enough to be near a store, their customer service is great, including cleaning your jewelry bought there for free. If not, you can view everything on their website. This would be a very nice gift for wife and daughter!

We bought hand-painted wine bottle stoppers (not sure of the correct term to describe it but it replaces the cork that you remove.). They make great gifts as they are small and lightweight and cost around £10. We really liked the hand-painted Tuscany scenes on them.

Thunt,

Rembrandt is another North American brand that makes traditional charm bracelets and sterling silver charms. I'm wearing a charm bracelet with Rembrandt charms as I'm typing this! If you're not sure of size bracelet, you can always pick up the charms and buy the bracelet upon return to the U.S.

I like to bring back table cloths, cloth napkins or kitchen towels. They are light and flat and won't break.

Our refrigerator is full of magnets of places we've been. I have also been known to buy a wall calendar or two -- that way I can enjoy scenes from the country/city all the next year.
For your son, might he like a map to be framed? Kind of a long shot, but my son liked to navigate our day trips in Rome, especially if it involved the metro or buses.

Enjoy your trip.

DD

The charm bracelet is a great idea. I started one (sterling silver) for my dd years ago. Every time we travel somewhere, we buy a local sterling charm to add to the bracelet. It's a beautiful reminder of our family vacations and relatively inexpensive. The silver charms are also readily available. But beware of where it's made and make sure it is sterling silver (I think another poster mentioned this, too.) We also buy Christmas ornaments from each new city (or country) we visit. Then, as we decorate our tree every year, we reminisce about the places we visited. DS loves the soccer (or football) scarves. But since we will be in Italy this year--and it's the home of Ferrari--we will probably buy him some token Ferrari souvenir. Happy shopping!

We've bought some nice (small) pottery pieces, and wine stoppers. My Travel Group friend gets what she calls "tacky tea towels" and refrigerator magnets - inexpensive and easy to pack. We've also picked up a couple of inexpensive art works from sidewalk vendors.

Given my own attempt to travel light, and my over-stuffed home, I have tried to buy a few smallish remembrances of my trips, especially small handmade ceramic tiles or plates, often very lovely and not very costly or heavy. Various textile or small leather items are also easy to pack and useful, be sure you look for locally-made, not cheap imports. Another collection I have built up in recent years, much to my surprise, is refrigerator magnets. They are literally everywhere, in great quantity, at very low prices, like one or two euros. Many are really junky and made in China or elsewhere, but I am willing to spend an extra euro or even two, in order to buy those that are unusual, often three-dimensional and especially nice, ideally handmade by local people. My refrigerator is quite beautifully decorated now, after several recent European trips. As a matter of fact, I think I will go and peruse the collection right now.

I second the scarfs and small pieces of street art. I did splurge on a very small framed oil a small framed mosaic though (separate trips). Also small pieces of jewelry like lapel pins.

My husband and I have two traditions we have started regarding collecting souvenirs. First, we buy a Christmas ornament whenever we travel someplace new. We try to pick ones that are unique and very representative of the location - for example our mini lobster with chef's hat from our trip to Bar Harbor, Maine. Every year as we decorate the tree we talk about our travels. Second, we have been collecting a cup of sand from each location and then we add the sand in layers to a jar on our mantle. We then label the layer with the location. We have white sand from the Dominican Republic, red sand from the Garden of the Gods in Colorado, even sand from a bunker at Major PGA tournament that we attended. BTW - we are traveling to Italy for the first time this summer as well. We will be bringing back some sand and hope to find some Murano glass with which to decorate the Christmas tree. Enjoy your trip!

mehappygirl, we also buy Christmas tree ornaments here in the States, but not often in Europe. We did accumulate a lot of straw ornaments when we lived in Poland, and they grace our tree every year - 30 years later!

I love your sand idea. My DH usually picks up a few rocks when we travel domestically, and they are scattered around the house. I'm thinking of some of the beautiful sandy areas we've been to in the States - hhmmmm.. White Sands, Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, Little Sahara in Oklahoma... Although I suspect taking sand from a national park is a federal offense. But if you empty your shoes when you get home?

Thank you all for the fantastic ideas!! We are so looking forward to the trip. JJTraveler, thank you for letting me know about 112 and the great idea of the kids carrying around the card from the places we'll be staying. This is the best idea I've heard since I thought about chaining my kids to me!! lol.

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to pass on their ideas and experiences!

Thanks for posting! I was thinking of doing a charm bracelet too :) Great info

Since this thread was unearthed again...

My comment on charm bracelets is that they can can be awkward, noisy and even damaging to wear. I had one my grandmother started for me as a child, and which I added to all the way through high school but hardly ever wore. The dangling charms caught on my clothes, and clanked and rattled against any hard surface my hand was over. They can also scratch some surfaces. So, consider them carefully!

Since this was unearth, maybe thunt23 will tells what they actually purchased. However, it is always smart to check the dates of the original posting.