Delicious gifts for Italian food lovers they’ll love this season

Gifts for Italian food lovers: delicious gift ideas for people who love Italian food, to bring the taste of Italy to any table! (Updated Dec. 2024)

Italian food has many fans all over the world but gifting a real Italian meal in Italy, complete with a plane ticket, may not be the most feasible of all gift ideas!

However, you don’t need to be in Italy to find the perfect gift for Italian food lovers.

The web has lovely Italian foods that you can order from home and that will make your Italy-obsessed-foodie happy.

I know this because I myself buy Italian food online all the time. I am from Rome, but I spend long periods of time abroad and I can tell you: sometimes, you need a taste of home!

So, based on my own experience of Italian food gifts and treats you can get online, this is my list of delicious gift ideas for Italian food lovers!

Food gifts for Italian food lovers

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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Top tip! You can also find this list already on my Amazon shop at this link, for an even easier shopping experience!

A hamper of delicious Italian foods

A gift basket filled with Italian food goodies is likely to go down a treat with any Italy lover.

You can choose among ready-made ones like this one, or you can handpick foods according to their specific taste.

Many of the foods in this list can be gifted on their own or as part of an Italian food hamper: if you have the time to assemble it yourself, this will make a wonderfully personalized gift!

Great ideas to include in your Italian hamper are biscotti, Italian chocolate, preserves, pasta (especially special one like Orecchiette from Puglia or Pici from Siena), cheese, and pistacchio: all foods that are typically Italian, keep well and are both useful and festive.

A luscious box of Italian Biscotti

A lovely gift for an Italian food lover with a sweet tooth: biscotti! Perfect with coffee, tea or a sweet bite any time of day.

What I love about biscotti as a food gift is that it is easy to mix and match different types.

You can get some fancy ones in pretty tin boxes but don’t skip the everyday Italian biscotti brands like Gentilini or Mulino Bianco.

While the are for the big distribution and may seem too cheap to be a present, they are great for bringing back memories of Italy.

Great Italian biscotti brands and types to choose from are Matilde Vicenzi, Gentilini, Canestrelli and Mulino Bianco, easy to find in Italian supermarkets, if buying in Italy, or in specialized Italian food shops abroad.

Amazon has a selection of some real Italian brands, such as Mulino Bianco and also a lot of brands that are Italian-inspired only.

An irresistible box of Baci Perugina

A food gift with a romantic twist!

Italian chocolate lovers will love a box of ‘kisses’ (this is what ‘baci’ means in Italian): nutty and chocolatey, each of them comes with a message with a quote or love poem on a signature slip of paper inside, almost like a fortune cookie! An Italian classic.

Spreadable Gianduja or luscious Gianduiotti

Gianduia is a delightful chocolatey creation from Piedmont served as spreadable cream or in the shape of bite sized chocolates called ‘gianduiotti‘.

Made with chocolate and hazelnuts, it is rather sweet and absolutely addictive: it is one of the most indulgent Italian chocolate creations and a wonderful gift for lovers of artisan chocolate.

Gianduiotti were the first chocolate bite made in Italy and are still now one of the most famous and beloved Italian chocolate creations

A box of Ferrero Rocher

Ferrero Rocher are less luxurious than gianduiotti but also way better known so if you have a friend who loves them, why not indulge them?

They are common in Italian homes at Christmas, so this, plus their delicious taste, makes them the perfect seasonal gift.

I LOVE them so if you are ever buying an Italian food gift for me, these are a goog choice!

Pistacchio spread from Sicily

Pistacchio may not be to everyone’s taste but pistacchio spread from Bronte is special! Surprisingly delicate, this is a perfect gift idea for an Italian food lover who is missing or dreaming of Sicily.

Dried specialty pasta

If you are building a personalized Italy good gourmet gift basket, then you may want to add some specialty pasta, such as these pici, the traditional pasta of Siena (they are amazing with Tuscan style ragout!) or orecchiette from Puglia.

A bottle of real Balsamic Vinegar from Modena

Balsamic Vinegar has many fans and it is a gift that will last a long time and accompany many creations from cheese platters to salads.

Drink gifts for Italian food lovers

Italian food goes down even better with drinks! Some worth gifting are

Italian limoncello

Delicious and long lasting (unless you drink it all straight away!) limoncello is a lovely gifts that will make everyone happy with its bright color and sweet taste. Perfect for after dinner cheer.

Top tip! Why not opt for a gift set with cute limoncello cups too? These ones are lovely and bring the memory right back to the Amalfi Coast!

Italian coffee

Buying for a coffee lover?

Then why not help them stock up, gifting them coffee from one of the best Italian coffee brands! Illy, Lavazza and Vergnano are all available online.

If you are looking for a bigger item, then you can go all out with an Italian coffee machine – the red one in the photo is mine, isn’t it pretty?

Traditional Italian coffee mokas are very pretty, don’t break the bank and make delicious coffee, but you ca also opt for even larger items such as an espresso countertop maker.

Italian preserves

Another lovely gift for Italy’s food lovers is a selection of Italian preserves and jams.

Jams are a common item for breakfast in Italy and starting the day with a thin layer of Italian jam for breakfast is sure to strike the right note with an Italian foodie!

If they also love cheese, you can mix and match Italian jams and preserves they can enjoy as part of an Italian charcuterie and cheese board.

Italian cheese

Italian cheese is world-famous and you can find lovely varieties that travel well.

Some you can get online are pecorino, parmigiano and gorgonzola, which you can present as part of a hamper, a cheese selection with preserves (see above) or a cheese kit for a present that is lovely for the palate and the home.

Gifts ideas for Italian food lovers who cook

If you are buying for a home cook, then you can also treat them to some Italian kitchen staples that will help them elevate their creations!

A fun one could be a pasta making kit: pasta making machine + pasta drier + how to make pasta from scratch cookbook.

Make sure they invite you over when they put their skills to the test!

Looking for even more ideas? Check out our gift guide for Italy lovers, full of Italy-themed gifts!

I hope you enjoyed these gift ideas for Italian food lovers and helped you find the perfect present for the Italian foodie in your life!

This post was originally written in 2020 and has now been fully updated to reflect current online availability for the Christmas season 2024/25