Notturno Intarsio manufactures inlaid wood items and furniture in Sorrento along the Amalfi coast. The company is continuing a 500-year-old tradition for an unprecedented standard of craftmanship and beauty by skilled artisans that has become the finest in the world.

The raw material used is a variety of African exotic such as walnut, birch, mahogany and brier woods, while the inlay is accomplished by layering and sandwiching together various sheets of woods and different colors of veneer.

View the online catalogue here for more examples. The company ship all over the world and all products carry a certificate of warantee. Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club and Jcb are all accepted.

Deruta, the town of ceramics, owes its origins as a centre for ceramic production to the easy availability of 'argil' or clay from the surrounding hills and the alluvial deposits of River Tiber. The first documents mentioning the 'land of earthenware close to territory of Torgiano' date from 1296, but it seems brick, tile and terracotta production stretches back to ancient times.

If you arrive in Impruneta from one of the country backroads you might just come across a number of the smaller workshops producing the famous terracotta.

Roughly translated that's cooked earth, and the dark brown clay pots, statues and atistic objects are just that.

Synonymous with Tuscany, Impruneta is the capital of terracotta manufacturing in Italy, at least historically since 1098 for a number of documented reasons.

• the local clay is waterproof and resistant to cracking at very low temperatures.
• an abundance of woodlands feeding the kilns
• the vicinity of Florence as a market

The Florence Chamber of Commerce makes some good suggestions as to what and where to buy handmade items or artisan products in the city.

The list includes gold and silver, paper and bookbinding, mosaics, brass and bronzes, leather goods, linen embroidery, upholstery and terracotta.

Visitors are invited to shop in the traditional small 'botteghe' or workshops where the products are both made and sold. The streets and corners not to miss are named as the following: Ponte Vecchio, Por Santa Maria, via Maggio, Borgo Ognissanti, via dei Fossi, San Frediano and via Tornabuoni.