Vacuum Packed Pasta

I suggest just enjoying the local products while you're there. Bringing home stuff like that is difficult and never as good as having it while you're there. Just determine that you'll be back next year to enjoy it again.

Cryovac pacs of hard cheese like Parmegiano. Any grocery store, or a bit pricier at specialty cheese shops.

You can buy Italian-made food products here. Dean&DeLuca is pretty high-end but has a good selection; Amazon.com also has international brands. Your local Italian grocery store might, as well, if you aren't too picky.

There is nothing as good as the local foods you will find there, so I understand wanting to bring things home. I send back boxes of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, coffee, other things (brands I can't find here), but not pasta.

Best thing to do is when you find something you like, ask where you can buy it locally. Then check some websites to see if you can order the brand from home; if not, stock up and check the bag, or ship things back (pricey).

It's amazing what you can get here. In Spain this summer we visited a very small organic olive oil maker. Sure enough, available on Amazon. Even previously hard to get pork products are now available in the US. Having said that I agree like so many things, enjoyment of food and drink has a lot to do with where you are, who you are with. As others have said, enjoy while you are there.

One year we bought small, ridged but flat and easy to transport gnocchi rollers. We learned how to make fresh gnocchi and enjoy our own homemade now. I would look in kitchen stores and bring home little things that help keep your Italian dining experience alive. We also have little porcelain olive oil bottle stoppers/pours. My husband, a toothpick user, quickly noticed that every place we ate had a contraption on the table that held salt, pepper and toothpicks so he spent some time looking for the perfect little threesome for our table.

Local spices and spice blends are rather lightweight and I think are legal to bring back to the US as long as they are in sealed, commercial packaging (like supermarket tins).

Hi there, I don't know where you live, but first look around the stores near you and see what Italian goods you already have access to (but perhaps not even know it). Pasta is too much of a commodity to drag back home...aside from being found everywhere, dried pasta really isn't all that magical or special. I've never seen pasta other than gnocchi in vacuum packed form, and you can find it at a local Trader Joes grocery store. The beauty of pasta is freshness (made from scratch on the spot) and preparation (sauces, again made from scratch) which could can partake in Italy and replicate at home with a pasta maker. Once you're in Italy I would only focus on things that are truly unique and lightweight. I happen to like anise flavored things and liqueurs, and cannot find everything here absent of going to NYC or Chicago to the Eataly emporium (which is amazing if you ever get the chance).