Some souvenirs end up in drawers. These didn't. Italy is Tanya's — she lived there and keeps going back. Germany comes through Auntie Kristen and her longtime German art-dealer friend. The Mainz beer mugs are from a layover trip my parents took; the UK pen came in from Cheryl Lynne. What ties it all together is craftsmanship — beautiful things that survived the trip home and then earned a place in daily life.
+2 Picked by Micki
Rome is enormous, and in summer it is hot. Mom took Grandma Babs and solved both at once: a private golf-cart tour. They pick you up at your hotel, tuck a chilled bottle of water into the cup holder, and weave you throu…
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Picked by Kristen
Auntie Kristen brought this back from a trip to Germany's Black Forest. A hand-carved chalet-style cuckoo clock — the kind of object that's been made in the same Black Forest workshops for two centuries. The bird calls…
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Picked by Kristen
Auntie Kristen's Oktoberfest 2002 stein — Munich's commemorative design for the 2002 festival. Each year's Oktoberfest releases its own collectible; this one came home with her from a German trip. A specific vintage, a…
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Picked by Kristen
Auntie Kristen's traditional German stein — cavalier figure circling the body, hinged pewter lid that hisses open the way the good ones do. Classic beer-hall shape, the silhouette every beer stein aspires to. Pairs natu…
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Picked by Kristen
Auntie Kristen sourced this through a friend — a German pilot who deals art on the side. A piece of 300-million-year-old stone, backlit, with gold and blue minerals threading through — geology that ended up looking like…
Picked by Micki
Mic bought these in Mainz on one of her husband's trips — he's also an international pilot. Eisgrub-Bräu has been pouring in Mainz since 1989, inside historic underground cellars. It feels like a cave. A pair of cream c…
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Picked by Cheryl Lynne
Cheryl Lynne went shopping for an artist friend who has every art supply you can imagine. She skipped the art store and got him a Scriveiner fountain pen instead — black lacquer with gold trim, engraved with his name. H…
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Picked by Tanya
Tanya's Lake Como pick for the Italian-breakfast curious. Mulino Bianco's Abbracci — the "hug" cookies, chocolate and vanilla shortbread halves embracing a cream filling. Mulino Bianco is what Italian kids actually grow…
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Picked by Tanya
Tanya lived in Italy for years and still goes back. This is what she came home with from Lake Como — Bolla's flagship Amarone della Valpolicella Classico, 2021 vintage. Amarone is made by partially drying the grapes bef…
Picked by Tanya
Tanya's Lake Como find. Russo 1899's Crema di Melone — cream-of-melon Italian liqueur, pale and dessert-companion. It's the bottle Italian dinners actually end on, in the same tradition as limoncello cream but softer-fr…
Picked by Tanya
Tanya — who lived in Italy for years — brought this back from Lake Como. Apicella's Millefiori is wildflower honey, certified organic; "millefiori" means "thousand flowers," which is what the bees take from whatever's b…
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Picked by Tanya
Tanya's Tuscan everyday oil. Toscano IGP means it's certified to come from Tuscany's groves — grassy and peppery, with that little catch at the back of the throat that tells you it's the real thing. The bottle she finis…
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Picked by Tanya
Spelt linguine, bronze-drawn and slow-dried the artisan way, from Tanya's Italian pantry. Spelt — farro — gives it a nuttier bite and a rougher surface that actually grabs the sauce instead of sliding out from under it.…
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Picked by Tanya
The lentils Italians drive to Umbria for. Castelluccio di Norcia IGP — tiny, thin-skinned, grown on the high plain above Norcia — hold their shape and don't need soaking. Tanya simmers them with a glug of the Farchioni…
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Picked by Tanya
Hand-packed yellowfin fillets in brine — the Italian tuna that makes you realize what you'd been eating before. Tanya keeps a jar for tonnato, for a quick pantry pasta, for a tomato-and-tuna lunch that tastes like the c…
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Picked by Tanya
Southern-Italian orange-blossom honey, raw and unpasteurized, from Tanya's haul. It sets pale and creamy and tastes faintly of citrus blossom — lovely stirred into the chamomile further down this list, or spooned over r…
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Picked by Tanya
Tuscan cantuccini — the little twice-baked biscuits — studded with dark chocolate, from a Florentine maker going since 1832. Traditionally dunked in Vin Santo; Tanya dunks them in espresso and isn't sorry about it. — Er…
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Picked by Tanya
Mulino Bianco's Baiocchi, the pistachio version: two thin shortbread discs hiding a pistachio-cream center, named after an old papal coin. Tanya's tea-time cookie — the one that disappears two at a time. — Eris
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Picked by Tanya
"Heart of apple" — a soft Mulino Bianco shortbread filled with Golden Delicious apple jam, 100% Italian fruit, no palm oil. Tanya's breakfast-on-the-go; it's basically a tiny apple crostata you can hold in one hand. — E…
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Picked by Tanya
Ferrero's Raffaello — coconut-and-almond confetteria wrapped in a crisp white wafer, a whole almond at the center. Tanya's box never makes it to a dish; they get eaten straight from the wrapper, cold from the fridge. —…
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Picked by Tanya
Italian fruit drops made with real fruit juice and vitamin C, no sugar — the orange-and-citrus pack Tanya keeps in her bag. The grown-up version of the candies the nonne always seem to have on hand. — Eris
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Picked by Tanya
Just coconut — dried slowly for over ten hours, no added sugar, nothing else. Tanya's plane snack and her answer to an afternoon sweet craving she doesn't want to feel guilty about. — Eris
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Picked by Tanya
The instant chamomile every Italian household has had since 1908 — soluble granules, one cup, done. Bonomelli is the bedtime ritual Tanya grew up with: a spoonful in hot water and the day is officially over. — Eris
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Picked by Tanya
Tanya's other nightcap — Twinings chamomile rounded out with honey and vanilla. Softer and sweeter than the straight Bonomelli; this is the one for when you want the tea to feel a little like dessert. — Eris
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Picked by Tanya
A proper Tuscan red from Tanya's haul — Cecchi's Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, DOCG, built on Sangiovese. Cherry and dried herb and a little leather, the kind of bottle that turns a Tuesday dinner into something that fe…
Picked by Tanya
Made-in-Italy lavender bar soap, Provence lavender, the kind that makes a guest bathroom smell like a trip. Tanya tucks one in with the towels and one in a drawer. Perlier's natural-recipe line — simple, and a little ol…
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Picked by Micki
Micki's everyday Italian oil — Basso has been pressing since 1904. Cold-extracted, grassy and a little peppery, the kind of bottle you reach for without thinking: over white beans, over good bread, over anything green.…
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Picked by Micki
Honey infused with Calabria's famous chili — sweet first, then a slow, warm heat that creeps up behind it. Drizzle it over ricotta, a cheese board, pizza, or fried chicken. Micki tried it and the jar is already half gon…
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Picked by Micki
Calabrian chili crisped in olive oil — crunchy, garlicky, a medium heat with real fruit behind it. This is the jar Micki drizzles over pizza; it's just as good spooned onto eggs, pasta, or anything that wants texture an…
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Picked by Micki
Four little jars, four Italian honeys — chestnut, zagara (orange blossom), eucalyptus, and wildflower — hand-packed in Calabria. A tasting flight for a cheese board, or the easy, lovely gift for the person who says they…
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Picked by Micki
Nearly half Sicilian pistachios, smooth and spoonable. Micki had it on pound cake and it vanished — it's also brilliant on toast, folded into whipped cream, or eaten straight off the spoon when nobody's watching. — Eris…
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Picked by Micki
Sicilian pistachios from the volcanic slopes near Etna — shelled, toasted, and ready to eat. Vivid green, buttery, and a whole different animal from the usual snack nut. Micki keeps a bag going for snacking and for baki…
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Picked by Micki
Organic linguine from Torre Annunziata, bronze-cut and slow-dried up to 48 hours so the sauce actually clings instead of sliding off. Micki's verdict: nothing beats real Italian pasta — and this is the real thing. — Eri…
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Picked by Kristen
Auntie Kristen's Tuscan find. A hand-painted ceramic cruet with a landscape scene wrapping the body and the word OLIO across the front — Italian for oil. Functional kitchen object that doubles as decor. Goes next to the…
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+1 Picked by Micki
My mom brought this home from Innsbruck — she was there consulting for Hughes Aerospace on space-based navigation, alongside her flying career. A hand-crafted Victorian porcelain doll, numbered 8 of 500. It's sat on my…
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