Holiday Gift Guide 2022: The Best Italian Food Gifts

italian food with background - pasta, tomato, basil

A holiday gift of Italian food is sure to please the palate of your friends, colleagues, relatives, or neighbors.

The list below includes options that range from sweet to savory, practical to lavish, from truly authentic regional foods “Made in Italy” to perennially popular Italian-American ones.

Beautifully packaged, they can be delivered directly to your gift recipient’s doorstep.

Note: Many food products sell out quickly around the holidays and there may be slight variations in the contents of curated food gifts based on availability at the time of purchase.

Dolce & Gabbana Pasta & Apron Tin Gift Set

Pastificio Di Martino is a third-generation Neapolitan heritage pasta maker dating back to 1921. Coupling food with fashion, the company has partnered with fashion titans Dolce & Gabbana to create a lavishly decorated tin filled to the brim with pasta and more.

Included in the set are five 1-lb. bags of pasta (2 spaghetti, 2 penne mezzani rigate, 1 spiral-shaped eliche gigante), two 14-oz. cans of Lampadina tomatoes, and a custom-designed printed apron that any pasta lover will enjoy wearing. The D & G tins are available at La Devozione’s retail shop in Chelsea Market in NYC and also online.

Signature Sant Ambroeus Gift Box

Ths Sant Ambroeus brand dates back to 1936 when two pastry chefs opened a popular cafe in Milan, steps from the famous La Scala opera house. A favorite of both locals and tourists, the company made its way across the Atlantic in 1982, opening its first U.S. store on Madison Avenue. Since that time, the hospitality group has grown to create restaurants, coffee bars, and gelaterias in New York City, Southampton, and Palm Beach.

The Signature box is a great gift to introduce the recipient to this luxury indulgence. It includes a signature cookie tin, a bottle of Sant Ambroeus EVOO, mini flourless chocolate cookies, a Coffee Bar cookbook with 75 recipes (including coffee drinks), and a roomy canvas tote with leather handles. Lastly, it includes a $100 gift card that can be used online or at one of the brand’s cafes/restaurants.

Cento Organics Gift Box

Any home cook would love opening this gift box filled with premium USDA organic products from Cento. The history of this family-owned Italian food importer dates back more than a half century. The attractively package box with a big yellow ribbon contains pantry basics that are essential for preparing many Italian recipes.

These include extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), balsamic vinegar from Modena, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes, capers, and TIPO 00 Flour. It also comes with a keepsake olive wooden spoon that will make the present last forever.

https://www.eataly.com/us_en/gifts/curated-gift-boxes/eataly-when-in-puglia

If you’re seeking authentic foods from any region of Italy—those you’ve visited or those you’re hoping to get to—you are likely to find them at Eataly. Since its opening in Turin in 2007, Eataly has launched Italian food emporiums across the globe, including U.S. stores in Chicago, Dallas, NYC, Boston, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The stores are virtual museums of Italian foods and wines but Eataly.com is also an ideal online destination for gifts year-round.

Eataly’s curated holiday gift boxes feature foods from artisanal Italian producers, showcasing the best of various cities and regions. All are hand-packed with a bow and delivered to gift recipients with a festive card. For example, the “When in Puglia” box will transport its recipient to the Adriatic coast. It includes: a bottle of EVOO, orecchiette pasta, tarallini crackers,spaghettoni (a thicker version of spaghetti), local olives, a can of organic tomatoes, and a crunchy almond bar.

Fabrizia Lemon Baking Company Holiday Cheer Grande

The Fabrizia Lemon Baking Company is a New Hampshire-based, family-owned business that incorporates its award-winning Fabrizia Limoncello into each and every one of its baked goods. All of the zesty lemons, sourced directly from Italy, are the sole ingredient providing the fresh lemon flavor and color to Fabrizia’s products, which include swoon-worthy cookies, biscotti, lemon loaves, blondies, cake jars and whoopie pies.

Included in this Fabrizia branded box are a 16 ounce Limoncello lemon loaf, 6 biscotti, 5 Limoncello truffles, 2 Limoncello blondies, 25 lemon hard candies, napkins, holly and real evergreens, and a holiday gift note.

Harry & David Pizza Kit With Pizza Stone

Gourmet food purveyor Harry & David is probably best known for their fabulous pears, a staple during the holidays, but the company has an extensive line of fruits and foods that goes well beyond. This clever kit contains all the ingredients necessary for a couple or family to create their own specialty pizza, perfect for memory-making.

It includes Sonoma gourmet organic heirloom marinara sauce, roasted red and yellow peppers with garlic, sliced pepperoni, Colby and Sicilian Jack cheeses, two organic thin pizza crusts—and a pizza stone, stainless steel pizza rack and cutter.

Goldbelly Little Italy Dessert Pack from Ferrara Bakery

Goldbelly is an online marketplace for food products and gifts with more than 850 chefs, restaurants and food emporiums represented on this unique platform. Gift givers can choose iconic food gifts, meal kits, food subscriptions, and/or gift cards from purveyors across the U.S. that will be delivered to the recipient’s doorstep.

As one example, Ferrara Bakery in Little Italy is a fifth-generation, family-owned business that has been an Italian-American (and New York institution) since 1892. (It also lays claim to being America’s first espresso bar). Anyone with a sweet tooth will love receiving the Little Italy Dessert Pack, which includes yummy cannoli, rainbow cookies and pignoli cookies.

Savini Tartufi Truffle Gift Set

Verve Culture is an online marketplace that curates artisanal foods and home goods from around the world. The company’s Savini Tartufi Truffle Gift Set from Tuscany (part of the Taste of Italy Collection) will please any food enthusiast or truffle lover.

Since 1920, family-owned and operated Savini is known for its gourmet truffles. The three sauces in this charming wooden gift box will elevate the flavors of any dish (e.g., pasta, eggs or steak) and fill the room with a waft of the earthy essence of truffles. The box includes Salsa Del Tartufaio (The Truffle Gatherer's Sauce), Truffle-Flavored Butter Sauce, and Burro Con Tartufi Estivo (Truffle Butter Sauce).

Giadzy La Dolce Vita Box

The name of chef, writer and TV personality Giada De Laurentiis is widely known but people may be less familiar with the food star’s Italian lifestyle and e-commerce platform, Giadzy. In addition to offering a full line of fresh, Italian food products, many of which she uses in her own cooking, the website also offers holiday gift kits that bring a taste of Italy to your home.

The beautifully packaged Dolce Vita Gift Box is sure to please anyone with a sweet tooth. It includes amaretti cookies from Saronno, Amarena cherries from Emilia Romagna, a dreamy cocoa-hazelnut spread from Piedmont, dark chocolate-covered Dragées blueberries, Guido Gobino chocolate truffles and other delicacies.

Laudemio Frescobaldi Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is often called the “green gold” of Italy because of its high quality and prestige. A product of Tuscany, Laudemio Frescobaldi olive oil is made from the first pressing of the olive harvest; it is low in acidity and saturated fat, and is free of any additives. Its versatility, health benefits and taste profile are a winning combination.

The deep green oil is packaged in an easy-to-drizzle glass bottle (and box) that looks so attractive that it might hold perfume—making it especially gift-worthy for food enthusiasts and home cooks.

Laudemio Frescobaldi can be easily purchased on Amazon (also available via Olio2Go, and Market Hall).

Carbone Marinara

Carbone is an Italian-American restaurant created by Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick, which is famously a favorite of the Obamas. Now the Michelin-star chef, Mario Carbone, decided to bottle the popular restaurant-quality sauces that has drawn foodies to his restaurant empire, which also includes Contessa, Sadelles, Dirty French and more.

Although it can be tough to snag a reservation at the chef’s signature restaurant (Carbone), you can gift someone a two bottle set of one of his famous red sauces, which many say are the best to come out of a jar. There are now six varieties to choose from, packaged in a two-pack or four-pack for home cooks.

Valdo Floral Rose Prosecco

In Italy, food is always paired with wine! This gift from the Veneto region of Italy can be ordered online or picked up at the last minute at your local wine shop. Packaged in a festive, eye-popping bottle, this sparkling rose wine is made of 75% Nerello Macalese and 25% Glera Grapes. It’s the perfect way to celebrate the holidays with good cheer.

Are you a chocoholic?

Read my posts on MoreTimeToTravel.com: