Are there any Italian celebrations that involve gift giving?

For New Year's, ancient Romans gave friends a glass jar full of dates and dried figs in honey, with a bay leaf branch so the coming year would be sweet and full of good fortune. Neapolitans still wrap dried figs in fresh bay leaves and exchange them at New Year's to ensure abundance.

For enjoyable reading about Italy's holiday celebrations, festivals, customs, food, pageants, etc., I recommend Carol Field's book, Celebrating Italy. You may find it at your library or for less than ten dollars on the internet. Salute!

Here's more from Wiki s contributors:

• La Befana brings the equivalent of stockings to kids around the time of Epiphany. If they're bad she brings coal (which is actually a sweet black candy now).
• Often in Italian weddings the bride and groom give wedding favors to the groomsmen, bridesmaid, and parents. These are often trinket type gifts handed out during the wedding party. Such items can be found on sites such as the ones located in the related links and many others.
• Christmas is all Italian