What is a good American gift for the family I am staying with in Italy?

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cvillecmd

Italians always ask me to bring maple syrup, bar-be-que and hot sauces. Young women like lotions, perfumes, make-up, etc from Victoria's Secret and Bath &Body Works.
A nice idea as others have suggested would be to make an American style breakfast one morning. Italians do not like to eat as much as Americans do but they are fascinated with American breakfasts, especially pancakes!
They also really like kitchen gadgets and stuff for cooking/preparing food- things like Kitchen Aid mixing spoons, spatulas, etc.

alwaysmoose

What part of the country are you from. I'm sure there are some regional favorites you could bring.

Janice

I am roman.
For us California is Sun-Music-Plums and oranges :))
In Italy we dont have all your colored and delicious transparent jelly fruit taste (I found only this image http://www.nippi-inc.co.jp/eng/images/jelly.jpg

Pancake and syrup, for us is a very american thing.
Or an american pie!

B J

U want to be unique?? dont bring california wine; they are one of the top 3 producers of wine in the world with France and Spain and american wine is like vinegar to them.
Jelly beans...NO. Maybe baseball/football hats or jerseys...

AgidÃ²

Fuel :P ...it's soooooo much more expensive here :P
u might bring an i-phone since they don't sell it here yet,but this may be sliiiiightly too expensive....
well we don't have the peanuts butter the Americans in the movies love to eat....which may be quite a nice funny present...
and we use a different thingy to make coffee so u may bring those http://www.lineaazzurra.net/cgi-bin/img_prodotti/32_1_989649.jpg things even if 99% of the italians won't like the coffee u would make with it :P
we don't eat (and probably dunno how to cook) pancakes,which u may prepare to ur hosts someday for breakfast,but u could buy them here as well (they sell the pancakes flavur in markets here)....
not talking about food....there r very few possibilities that ur family will know the american football rules & things so u could bring them something cool from a football team of where u r....
mmmh...cannot think of anything else,sorry.....
btw i'm sure they will appreciate whatever u bring them just for the nice thought u've had.....
hope u'll enjoy ur staying in my country,
tc!

Taylor's Dad

Something hand-crafted in the USA is always appreciated. I've also found that my Italian friends enjoy a good California wine; they are amazed at the quality.

If the family have small children you could bring them a toy. Disney toys are popular but costly in Italy. I send my friend in Italy Barbie dolls for his daughter because they are very expensive there.

Oldwhiteguy2earth

Box of Sees Candy.

no jelly beans

i would bring some new original stuff, because italy is alwyas a bit behind in things, but if you have the newest gadget its fun for them to show, or a nice paintig nice picture frame, nice sauce mix, a taco set dinner and show them how to prepare it. some tortilla chips with chees sauce or spicy sauce
no clothes or jewelery

Catalina

Yes to California wine (that's what I always bring and they appreciate it a lot, of course they have their own but they are curious about tasting different wines from different countries and appreciate California wine) and I have never seen jelly beans in Italy so that's a good idea, maybe the gourmet ones.

Also, I sometimes bring maple syrup because it's not common in Italy and they can use it over gelato if they don't know how to make pancakes (but you can teach them!).

If they have kids bring Willy Wonka candies, which they cannot find in Italy. If they have teenagers, bring GAP or Old Navy tshirts, for example.

voom0110

no sports stuff, they won't be worn, and italians have their own proud team affiliations, old news.

something regional is key, because "american" stuff is so broad. they have their own dvds, dont bother AND dvd players require adjustments when playing international dvds, my new dell laptop only allows me to watch 5 international dvds ever (weird). Plus italians are notorious for dubbing their films so bringing a non-dubbed-over english version might be frustrating.
Novelty candies could be a good idea, but bring a variety of candies. Girlscout cookies? Shortbread cookies, maybe make a homemade apple pie and pack it really well.

Alec S

A Music Box.
A MiniTree.
Some American Food or Drinks.
Some Movies.
Game Consoles.

Jelly beans aren't a present, but I think they do have them in Italy.

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