Tourists visiting the picturesque and upscale Italian resort area can now take home a unique souvenir — canned air.

Cans of air from Lake Como are being flogged to tourists for €10 as souvenir sellers try to cash in on the popularity of the beauty spot in Italy - and locals are appalled

For tourists returning from vacation, a phone full of photos and a suitcase bursting with souvenirs are usually the closest they can come to bringing a piece of their holiday destination home with them.

The concept of selling canned air is to give tourists a "tangible memory" of their trip to Lake Como. Davide Abagnale, a marketing specialist who first sold Lake Como posters on the Internet, called the product "a tangible memory that you carry in your heart." The can, once opened, can be used as a pen holder.

Empty cans containing 'Lake Como air' are being sold at the Italian beauty spot to easily-deceived tourists, with Americans seen as the most likely buyers