Today, Italy is the world's largest exporter of gold jewelry, shipping many thousands of pieces abroad, from Asia to the Americas. Most of this large-scale jewelry production takes place in the industrial north. Valenza, in Piedmont, boasts nearly a thousand jewelry manufacturers in a town that measures little more than one square mile. Vicenza, in the Veneto region, hosts the gold jewelry industry's most important annual world trade show. To a lesser degree, Arezzo, in Tuscany, and Torre del Greco, outside Naples, are important jewelry centers. Although many of these town's enterprises are multigenerational family businesses, those crafting pieces entirely by hand, according to ancient techniques, remain few.

To truly appreciate the heritage of Italian gold, visit a museum with a good collection of ancient pieces. In Rome, the Musei Capitolini and the Museo Etrusco Gregoriano, part of the Vatican Museums, carry impressive collections of Etruscan and Roman jewelry. The Museo Etrusco Guarnacci in Volterra and the Museo archeologico nazionale, in Tarquinia, both hold important repositories of Etruscan gold, and can help develop your eye for classical forms and styles.

Across Italy, glitzy jewelry shops are common, and the choices are endless. If you can bear it, look past the beautiful shop windows; a good artisan goldsmith will have a workbench set up inside the studio, where you may be lucky enough to watch him work. In Rome, a few of the country's finest practitioners of this trade are clustered between the Colosseum and Vatican City (try the Via del Clementino, the Campo Marzio, and surrounding streets).

If you're serious about coming home with an authentic piece of Roman gold, make an appointment with an artisan goldsmith, and collaborate on the design of your dreams. It's in custom work that you'll witness their skills and passion truly shine. Best of all, you'll go home with a tiny treasure you will value as much for its superb craftsmanship as for its connection to the ancient past.