--- title: Why I Love My Screwy Souvenir description: It's not just a $14 souvenir corkscrew, it's a portal back to an Italian vacation. authors: - name: George Mannes url: https://money.com/author/george-mannes/ at_money_since: 2009 articles: 10 covers: - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Education - Investing - Personal Finance social: - https://x.com/dogbitesmannes former_staff: true published: '2015-04-30T11:00:31.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T10:12:36.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Food & Drink - Leisure - money well spent - Travel word_count: 445 canonical: https://money.com/money-well-spent-corkscrew-italy/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![150430_SPE_CorkerSouvenir](https://img.money.com/2015/04/150430_spe_corkersouvenir.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C5511px%2C3100px&quality=85) Any vacation is a treat, but the trip my wife and I took to Italy four years ago felt particularly sweet. Reason one: Twenty-one years had gone by since our last overseas trip together, our honeymoon in Portugal. The day-to-day concerns of raising kids and keeping house kept pushing a jaunt to Europe far down our to-do list. By the time Margot and I landed in Rome—celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary one year late—all that self-denial had put us in an indulgent mood. Reason two: What's not to like about 10 days in Italy? We gorged our senses on art, architecture, music, and, oh yes, food. We savored multiple cups of chocolate-chip gelato, then went back for a taste of the hazelnut. Toward the end of our trip, near when it would go from a vacation to a memory, we hunted for gifts in and around Florence's Central Market. There, in a wine shop where we bought a bottle of limoncello for my parents, I saw for sale my perfect souvenir: a corkscrew. Just a few pieces of metal nesting against a yellow plastic handle, the corkscrew seemed, like so much else in Italy, a product of thoughtful design. It looked aerodynamic and felt substantial. I pulled out a 10-euro note (about $14) and bought it. Back home, the corkscrew's functioning has lived up to its appealing form. When I open a bottle, the Teflon helix twists smoothly into the stopper. Using the device's "[patented double lever mechanism](http://patrick.it/en/video.php?id=1)" (I quote the website of Patrick, its Italian manufacturer), I can slide the cork out in two easy motions. This keepsake is a pleasure to use, even before I start drinking. More important, each time I retrieve the corkscrew from our kitchen drawer, I can revisit our Italian vacation. I look at the store's name and location stamped on the handle—"Enoteca Marconcini Firenze"—and I'm reminded of moments from our trip. I think about the view of the sunset from Florence's Ponte Vecchio and a sculpture exhibit at the Accademia Gallery. I remember a jog through the grounds of the Villa Borghese in Rome and a stroll through St. Peter's Square. I picture a gelato shop near the Torre Argentina. I'm back in Italy. And what's not to like about that? *George Mannes is a senior editor at Money. He is currently daydreaming about his next overseas vacation—China, perhaps. Do you have a purchase you consider Money Well Spent? Email us about it and what it means to you at [wellspent@moneymail.com.](mailto:wellspent@moneymail.com)* **More Money Well Spent:** [The Best $25 Gift I Ever Gave](https://money.com/money-well-spent-pedicure/ "The Best $25 Gift I Ever Gave") How One Family Discovered a Vacation in a Box [How a $600 Banjo Saved My Life](https://money.com/jennifer-miller-banjo-money-well-spent/ "How a $600 Banjo Saved My Life") ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/money-well-spent-corkscrew-italy/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Travel", "item": "https://money.com/travel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Why I Love My Screwy Souvenir" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/money-well-spent-corkscrew-italy/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/money-well-spent-corkscrew-italy/", "name": "Why I Love My Screwy Souvenir", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-04-30T11:00:31.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/money-well-spent-corkscrew-italy/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/money-well-spent-corkscrew-italy/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:12:36.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Why I Love My Screwy Souvenir", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/04/150430_spe_corkersouvenir.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C5511px%2C3100px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "150430_SPE_CorkerSouvenir" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "George Mannes", "url": "https://money.com/author/george-mannes/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/george-mannes/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/05/14-05-21_bio_authors_mannes.jpg?quality=85&w=190&h=190&crop=1", "email": "gmannes@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/dogbitesmannes" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-04-30T11:00:31.000Z", "description": "It's not just a $14 souvenir corkscrew, it's a portal back to an Italian vacation.", "abstract": "It's not just a $14 souvenir corkscrew, it's a portal back to an Italian vacation.", "@id": "https://money.com/money-well-spent-corkscrew-italy/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:12:36.000Z", "wordCount": 445, "keywords": [ "Food & Drink", "Leisure", "money well spent", "Travel" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Travel", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel" ] } ] } ] } ```