was just wondering what sort of "product" comes to mind to the people around here.
aside from the obvious, of course !
the "seniors" are not precluded from suggesting Gina Lollobrigida !! 
I raced Karts for a while and the majority of chassis were Italian.
beretta weapons are famous, wine (obvius), oil (obvius), many kind of fruit, many parts of satellities (yay!), mafia (ngrangeta & co.)
Mafia is already international, they don't need to be "exported" from Italy XD XD XD
Brains ... we export them, too ... 
...
Railroad track width, see below:
In more modern times, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Maserati. None of which I could afford!
And Fiat, which I probably could afford.
Here is a look into the corporate mind that is very interesting, educational, historical, completely true, and hysterical all at the same time:
The US standard railroad gauge (width between the two rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?
Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built by English expatriates.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
Why did "they" use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons which used that wheel spacing.
Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe (and England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots first formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.
The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from the original specification for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Specifications and bureaucracies live forever. So the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses. Thus, we have the answer to the original question.
Now the twist to the story . . .
There's an interesting extension to the story about railroad gauges and horses' behinds. When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory had to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses' behinds. So, the major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a Horse's Ass!
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/history/american/gauge.asp#GAS5IphoVRDqMEFL.99
wow, fantastic CrossRoads !!
and of course automotive power is still measured in "horsepower" !
(i was quite surprised it took a few posts before the Italian sports cars got a mention)
i think "sticking with the measurement" is not just a matter of bureaucracy but practicality as it would be a major effort to re-lay tracks that have already had such an extensive coverage.
also, just to be a stickler, i don't think Roman "exports" should really qualify as "Italian" since Italy didn't exist until much later.
CrossRoads:
... the major design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a Horse's Ass!
ROTFLMAO (where is the rolling-on-the-floor-laughing smile, when you need it ? ... XD)
CrossRoads:
And Fiat, which I probably could afford.
nope, the factory in italy are being shut down. Fiat - Wikipedia
also fiat has been italian as long as the state payed for its debth, and then...
On 29 January 2014, it was announced that Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler Group LLC would be merged into a new holding, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, incorporated in the Netherlands with tax domicile in the UK
Alas, I didn't come up with that, I just recall it from my time working on Gov't projects. 
Wow - Fiat's made everywhere but Italy it looks like!
How about Alpha Romeo - still made?
alfa romeo is proprierty of fiat.
we still have ferrari 
Lancia?
Alfa Romeo?
all fiat. i've checked, also ferrari is fiat. It is all fiat. And fiat WAS italian (still have headquartier in tourin, bute taxes are paied in UK)
The spaghetti westerns from Sergio Leone - Once upon a time in the west and several others -
This also includes the unforgettable music of Ennio Morricone - often magnificent in its simplicity.
Did anyone mention pasta and pizza already?
Allessi kitchen ware? Surely everybody recognises the tripod juicer?
Probably owned by Fiat... 
robtillaart:
pasta
buitoni -> neslè
barilla: italian, but homophobic Pasta firm Barilla boycotted over 'classic family' remarks | Italy | The Guardian
formage! grana padano and parmiggiano reggiano, good to put on pasta, but also scamorza, tomino, mozzarelle, mozzarelle di bufala
just pay attention to fraud!
Parmigiano-Reggiano
Mmmmm.
San Daniele ham.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
if you go (but only in south trentino, near trento) try their salame called "pasta di Luganega" and the cheese called "tosela"
Strange that nobody has mentioned designer clothes? Gucci, Versace, Armani...
Italy for me is "design", when the Italians make something it has to look, feel good in the first place. I like that. That's why I've owned 5 Alfa Romeo's, currently drive a Giuletta.
lesto: Ok, i'm officially hungry, now
If you want to eat well, take a cooking Italian.
If you want to organize an event in the right way, do NOT do it to an Italian.
Heaven is a British policeman, an Italian chef, a German engineer, a French lover: all organized by the Swiss.
Hell is an English chef, a French engineer, a German policeman, a Swiss lover, and the organization entrusted by Italians.
- Jim Elliot