This year can end on a high note! I guess one way to do it is to craft yourself a Christmas tree made of cured meats like my pal Silvio Imperati of Salumificio Cardone in Agerola. Another is to give gifts purchased from small businesses and celebrate the spirit of Italian artisanship with thoughtful items for the kitchen, bookshelf, and beyond.

Wine & Cocktails

First up, vino. A few years ago, Joe Campanale wrote an incredible book about Vino Italiano. Pair it with a themed wine box from Biondivino or a few bottles from Domestique or Astor. All of these places have stellar Italian lists. If you want a more travel-oriented experience, give the gift of a tasting at Vino Roma in Rome. Alternatively, lead yourself on an Italian cocktail tour with the help of Spritz: Italy’s Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail, With Recipes or Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, and Herbal Liqueurs, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas.

Cookbooks

We’ve all been cooking SO. MUCH. these past few years. Sometimes finding inspiration is hard. I turn to these cookbooks both old and new whenever I need inspo for my next meal. (If you can, please purchase from an independent bookshop like Now Serving, Book Larder, Omnivore, Bold Fork, Kitchen Arts & Letters and Archestratus, all of which ship.)

• • La Vita è Dolce: Italian-Inspired Desserts
  • An A to Z of Pasta: Stories, Shapes, Sauces, Recipes
  • Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy’s Greatest Food
  • Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking
  • Pasta Grannies: The Secrets of Italy’s Best Home Cooks
  • Pomp & Sustenance: 25 Centuries of Sicilian Food
  • Bitter Almonds: Recipes and Recollections from a Sicilian Girlhood
  • My Calabria: Rustic Family Cooking From Italy’s Undiscovered South
  • Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen
  • Southern Italian Desserts: Rediscovering the Sweet Traditions of Calabria, Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Sicily

• • The Heart of Sicily: Recipes and Reminiscences from a Country Estate 
  • Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy
  • Friuli Food & Wine: Frasca Cooking from Northern Italy’s Mountains, Vineyards, and Seaside
  • Preserving Italy: Canning, Curing, Infusing, and Bottling Italian Flavors and Traditions
  • Mastering Pasta: The Art and Practice of Handmade Pasta, Gnocchi, and Risotto
  • Dante’s Gluttons: Food and Society from the Convivio to the Comedy
  • Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania
  • Bitter Honey: Recipes and Stories from Sardinia
  • Two Kitchens: 120 Family Recipes from Sicily and Rome
  • Tortellini at Midnight And Other Heirloom Family Recipes from Taranto to Turin to Tuscany
  • Honey from a Weed: Feasting and Fasting in Tuscany, Catalonia, the Cyclades and Apulia
  • Italian Liqueurs: History and Art of a Creation
  • Cooking By Hand: A Cookbook
  • La Grotta: Ice Creams and Sorbets
  • Sicily, My Sweet: Love Notes to an Island, with Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Puddings, and Preserves
  • Dolci! American Baking with an Italian Accent
  • Italian Snacking: Sweet and Savory Recipes for Every Hour of the Day
  • Pompeii is Cool! (not a cookbook but still cool)

Check out the Parla Merch Store for signed copies of my cookbooks, market totes, and Wave Murano glassware.

Super Cute Italy-Themed Clothing
My friend Claudia Trezza founded Pezzi a few years back and she makes the most adorable clothes for kids and adults. Here’s my nephew modelling the “R is for Ravioli” onesie. He’s a natural! Shop Pezzi online here and in Rome here.

Italian Pantry Items and Panettone

Gift a curated gift box (or build your own) brimming with pasta, extra-virgin olive oil, Italian sweets, and more from these businesses specializing in fine Italian (and Italy-inspired) foods:

• My Italian Islands Gift Box from Gustiamo, plus insanely good panettone
• Ferrazzani’s
• Di Bruno Brothers
• Formaggio Kitchen
• Pastaio Via Corta gift cards
• Panettone From Roy

Pasta Tools and Kitchen Implements

I love gifting Sardinian pasta and pastry cutters from Etsy, a huge array of kitchen tools( especially for pasta) from Antica Aguzzeria del Cavallo, and hand-crafted knives by Rocco Petrunti in Frosolone, Molise. I dream of being gifted a custom knife roll from master leather worker Federico Polidori. Get handmade freguera bowls for making fregula (from €80.00; excluding worldwide shipping) from Sardinian craftsman Walter Usai. I love gifting hand-blown Go.to glasses from Murano. This style of cup is the traditional drinking glass of Murano’s glass masters. They are dishwasher-safe and so, so sturdy–take it from someone who breaks everything!

Buone feste e arrivederci 2024!

Note: Aside from Amazon affiliate links, I do not earn commissions on any of the items above, including the KP box at Gustiamo. I give props to the companies I love and support with my own dollars and euros. In the spirit of full disclosure, the founder and glass master of Wave Murano Glass is my bf.