What do you give someone who loves Puglia? The gifts that work come in two kinds: things to eat, such as extra virgin olive oil, taralli, preserves, Christmas sweets and recipe boxes, and things to keep, such as the pumo, ceramics and small luminarie. Here they are in one place, with what is worth knowing before you choose.
People looking for a gift from Puglia usually have someone specific in mind. A friend who spent a summer in the Salento and still talks about it. A family with Italian roots that never lost its taste for southern cooking. Someone who discovered Lecce, Ostuni or Polignano and wants to go back. For all of them, the right present is a piece of that land: something to open at the table, or to put on a shelf and look at every day.
To eat: Puglia in the pantry
A food gift is the safest choice, because it gets shared. Four ideas, from the simplest to the richest.
- Extra virgin olive oil. It is Puglia’s signature product, and it becomes a real present in a small terracotta jar, the kind once used to keep oil at home: when the oil is gone, the jar stays. To choose it well, read our guide to Apulian extra virgin olive oil.
- Taralli, friselle and preserves. Lampascioni, leccine and celline olives, aubergine strips in oil, puntarelle: a few jars make a whole Salento antipasto.
- Christmas sweets. Cartellate, mustaccioli, almond pastries: the December gift for anyone far from home. Read about the mustaccioli of Lecce, or make your own with our cartellate recipe.
- A whole dish, with the recipe. Mini kits give a dish rather than an assortment: the ingredients plus the recipe, for example orecchiette with turnip-top cream, or friselline with olive oil and pâté. You will find them among the recipe gift boxes in our shop.
To keep: the pumo, ceramics, luminarie
For a keepsake that lasts, Puglia has its own symbols.
The pumo is a ceramic bud about to open, a symbol of fertility and good luck. It was made for balconies, and today it decorates a shelf or a mantelpiece, and it is a much-loved wedding and christening favour. It comes in countless colours. One tip: a pumo made by hand by a potter is a very different thing from one cast in a mould. We tell its story in the pumo, the good-luck bud of Puglia.
Ceramics and luminarie are the other things people take home: besides the pumo, the ceramic balloon, and small handmade luminarie with prickly pear, flower or heart motifs, to hang indoors. Our guide to what to bring back from Puglia has the rest.
Ready to give: boxes and hampers
If there is no time to put a gift together, there are ready-made boxes, from small ones to large hampers, with olive oil, preserves, taralli, pasta, sweets and, in the bigger sizes, a bottle. We pack them in Cutrofiano, in the Salento, and ship them in Italy and abroad: it is the easiest way to send Puglia to someone’s door. Browse the gift boxes and the Christmas hampers in the shop.
For Christmas, start early. In December both packing and courier times get longer. If the gift is going abroad, order well ahead.
Gifts for clients or staff? Companies have their own route, with made-to-measure boxes and the logo on the packaging: see our corporate gifts from Puglia.
Frequently asked questions
What should I give someone who loves Puglia? Something to eat, such as extra virgin olive oil, preserves, taralli or traditional sweets, or a symbolic object like the pumo. If they live far away, a ready-made box sent to their home is the easiest choice.
What is the most typical gift from Puglia? Among objects, the ceramic pumo, a good-luck symbol. Among foods, extra virgin olive oil.
Can Apulian gifts be shipped abroad? Yes: the boxes and hampers in our shop are shipped in Italy and abroad.
