Mother’s Day Guide: The Best Italian Specialty Food Gifts

Your mother, wife, daughter, or BFF doesn’t have to be Italian to appreciate a Mother’s Day Gift of authentic Italian foods.

We scoured some of our favorite online specialty food sites to curate a list of authentic food gifts that will be appreciated by anyone who loves Italian cuisine or Italian cooking.

(Reminder: Mother’s Day 2023 in Italy falls on the same date as it does in the U.S., May 14th)

Italian Premier Gift Box

A little bit of this and a little bit of that—this impressive specialty food assortment includes cheeses, meats, oil, vinegar, cookies and snacks from a variety of regions up and down the boot. It all comes packaged in an attractive Kraft gift box.

Pasta Premier & Colander Gift Set

This set has all the ingredients needed to cook three Italian pasta meals. It includes sauces, cheeses, and several different types of genuine, Italian bronze-dried pastas. The goodies come hand-packed in a stainless steel, reusable colander, that will remind her of the gift well after the contents are consumed.

Italian Countryside Cheese Gift Crate

This no-fuss gift features four essential Italian cheeses from four distinct areas of Italy. It’s a great way to introduce or reacquaint someone with the range of Italian cheeses. It includes a grating cheese (from Emilia Romagna), a classic table cheese (from Veneto), a blue cheese (from Lombardy) and a Sardinian Pecorino. The cheeses can be enjoyed straight out of the box with toasted Bruschetta.

La Mamma Cuoca

Any home cook will love this box filled with premium pantry staples, such as dried porcini mushrooms, artichokes, Carnaroli rice, anchovies in olive oil, Datterino tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, Affiorato EVOO, and more. Also in the Eataly gift box is a hardcover copy of Pizza, Pane & Panini, published by Rizzoli, which explores regional pizza, bread and sandwich traditions.

La Mamma Golosa

Anyone with a sweet tooth will enjoy this gift box bursting with high-quality chocolates, cookies, hazelnut spread, honey and more. It’s a true taste of the La Dolce Vita sourced from Emilia Romagna.

Per Lei (for her)

Every Italian kitchen has a Moka pot (and she’s probably seen one in every Italian movie). This gift box is filled with homewares and food products that will allow her to emulate the Italian lifestyle. She’ll start her morning making rich espresso coffee in this Alessi coffee maker and sip it, perhaps, with some of the sweet cookies. The hand-packed gift box also includes strawberry jam, a keepsake mug for cappuccino or a latte, chocolates, honey and even a trio tin of Rose Salve scented lip balm.

Dolceterra Lemon Taste Gift Pack

Do lemons make her lips pucker? Does she love the taste of limoncello? If so, she’ll love the everything-lemon gift box that includes two types of limoncellos: Cream limoncello from Capri and Limoncello from Sorrento IGP, as well as other lemon specialty foods. The two Gioia Luisa ceramic glasses will be hers to keep.

Taste of Italy: Memoritaly

If she swooned when she visited Firenze, Portofino, Roma, Sicilia, Venezia or Verona (or one of those cities is on her bucket list), she’ll love this gift box that is a mix of food, art, books and culture, personalized for one of the cities mentioned. It includes a hand-painted ceramic mug, a hand-painted limoncello bottle, and local delicacies, all professionally shrink-wrapped with a decorative ribbon.

Customized Gift Box of Baratti & Milano Chocolates

This gift starts with a choice of a stunning Linea Storea box, which can be custom filled with all her favorites chocolates. Redesigned for contemporary gifting from the famed chocolatier’s archives, the original artwork for the box traces back to the 1940s. You can choose from a large variety of dark, milk, hazelnut and other chocolates as well as hard candies. The charming gift boxes also come in other sizes, shapes and designs.

Truffle Thrills Gift Set

If she gets intoxicated by the aroma of truffles, she’ll love this pack of gourmet sauces that will enhance the taste of any pasta dish; meat, chicken, or fish entrees; or even spread on toast or bruschetta. The eight easy-open 6.1 oz cans include a versatile assortment of truffled sauces: White truffles with porcini, black truffles with mushrooms, green and red pesto and truffles, artichokes with truffles, cream with truffles, and tomato with truffles.