www.usps.gov lists a long line of things prohibited as being mailed to Italy. One regulation says this: Articles of platinum or gold; jewelry; and other valuable articles unless sent as insured Priority

Here is my question: I bought a little sterling necklace for my cousin from Hawaii. It is not very expensive. Can I send it regular airmail? The priority mail would cost more than the necklace! The restrictions are Italian restrictions, not American export restrictions.

My guess is if they allow it to be sent, but only sent "insured" then they are probably requiring this because they want to make sure the recipient pays some kind of tax on it. I'm not 100% positive, but if it isn't worth a whole lot, I would just say wrap it up and send it. (Or send it UPS or DHL)

A couple of summers ago, I was staying in Spain and my Palm Pilot (that I was using for *everything*-- email, notes, maps, translation) stopped working. My mom has an identical one that she offered to sync to my computer and send me, but she made the mistake of declaring the value of it for insurance purposes when she mailed it. Well, long story short, I got this notice that I had to go to the post office (and it wasn't even really the post office, it was this weird pick up area behind and above the post office) with my receipt in order to pick up this item. I'm sure it was really amusing to an outsider to see me trying to explain in my broken Spanish that #1, the white thing in the box was a bar of soap, and #2, I shouldn't have to pay the IVA on the Palm Pilot, since I wasn't importing it and I would be leaving in a few weeks anyway...

Thanks for the advice, JB! I think I may just try to send it standard airmail, because, like I said, it really is not worth a lot of money...not worh insuring...to be honest...just a small momento of my trip.