Importing from Italy to the USA

Italy sells the United States a catalog that is unusually hard to substitute: wine from Piedmont, Tuscany and the Veneto; olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano and the rest of the Italian pantry; packaging and food-processing lines from Emilia-Romagna; machine tools from Lombardy; porcelain tile from Sassuolo and marble from Carrara; design furniture and lighting from Brianza, the Veneto and Friuli; and the classic Alfa Romeos, Lancias and Ferraris that US collectors import under the 25-year rule. Most of it leaves through Genoa and La Spezia, the gateway container ports for northern Italy, with Livorno and Marina di Carrara for stone, Trieste and Venice for the northeast, Vado Ligure for reefer cargo and Salerno for roll-on/roll-off sailings. The crossing is short — Genoa to New York runs 9-22 days depending on whether the service calls direct or transships — and what decides a landed cost is the classification: the EU tariff layer, the Section 232 rules for cars, furniture and metal-intensive machinery, and the US agencies that regulate food, wine and vehicles.

Last reviewed: October 2026

Offices and representative on this lane:Glendale, USA

Services Available on This Route

AGF Advantage on This Lane

We work through WCA partner agents in Italy; AGF has no office there. Our partner collects from the cantina, factory or seller, consolidates pallets from several producers where that saves money, lodges the Italian export declaration and books the sailing. AGF runs the shipment from Glendale and puts the US end together before the cargo leaves: the ISF filed before loading at Genoa, FDA prior notice for food and wine, TTB and USDA requirements checked against the product, EPA and DOT declarations for vehicles, and the entry filed by our licensed customs brokers. We confirm the tariff position for each HS line at quoting — the EU 10% layer, a Section 232 cap or an antidumping order — so the duty is known before you commit, and we quote door to door with the exclusions listed up front. Heavy and oversized machinery, slabs and project furniture are delivered through our trucking, drayage and rigging partners.

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