Several folks on the forum have had items marked gift opened by the dogana and assessed a tax bill.

I don't think UPS will front you the money for customs- just like the Poste, you gotta pay before they give you the box.

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Another question if something is sent from a personal address in the US and marked as Gift does it avoid customs charges.

From what I remember reading on this site this doesn't always avoid Italian customs these days. Also, the gift should not include the receipt from the original purchase. On the other hand I remember my parents and other family members sending all kinds of gifts to Italy in the 50's and 60's with no problems, seem like things have gone backwards.

Unless I can order from the EU/EEA, I can't be bothered dealing with this nonsense. My sister in Spain can order anything from anywhere and it all comes through no problem. It's just an Italian thing that one must live with if they decide to live here.

I live in the US and my in-laws live in Italy. I tried using UPS to send boxes at first but my family ended up paying ridiculous customs charges. Next I tried USPS. I have sent about six medium sized boxes over the last two years and have had almost no problems and no customs charges. (Once a box was lost for a week, but it showed up.) I have written "school supplies" in the description. (That is what I usually send to the kids.)

Perhaps the answer would be a remailing service in the UK. Not that you wouldn't have to pay duty on new goods but I suspect UK customs and postal procedures might be a little more forgiving and transparent for gifts/second-hand books and the like. Packages from the UK would not be subject to Italian dogana (although they might still disappear...).

Whatever you do don't ever have anyone write the word "cosmetics" on a package! I had my mom send me a $20 compact and ended up having to pay over 50 euros and fill out an obscene amount of documents that I didn't even understand. The whole process took 3 months and when the package was delivered I was told I owed another 11 euros!!! Now my family and friends know to never value the package over $20 and the descriptions that have been successful are magazine, pants, shirt, cd... Hope this saves others from the crazy customs on cosmetics!!!!