Restaurant Tips & Understanding Menus in Italy

Food is a big deal in Italy. I think it’s the best cuisine in the world. I can't say enough about the joys of eating out in a typical trattoria. (I particularly enjoy them in Florence, the Tuscan countryside, and in Rome.) In Italy there is a culture around eating which once understood will enhance your enjoyment of the country.

Breakfast

A pastry and a caffé or cappuccino is the norm. If you don't eat breakfast at your hotel, go into any bar and choose a pastry and order a coffee. Usually they’ll also be able to make fresh squeezed juice – it is called a spremuta. If you sit down you'll be charged more. Most Italians stand at the bar. A real pasticceria as opposed to a basic bar, will have more delectable, higher quality pastries.

Lunch

Everything shuts down from noon to about 4:00. This is sacred eating time! Most restaurants serve from noon to about 1:30, and then its siesta time. If you are on a budget or too busy sightseeing to sit for a few hours in a restaurant in the middle of the day, you can also find, in the major cities, plenty of sandwhich shops and pizza-by-the-slice places.

Dinner

The dinner hour begins at 8:00 pm. And even later the further south you go. It is hard to get a quick dinner in a restaurant. Italians assume that you’re there for the evening. Expect dinner to take a few hours. The bill will be brought only when you ask for it, and even then it can take a while!

Courses

Antipasti (starters)
Primi piatti (pasta or soup)
Secondi piatti (meat or fish)
Dolci (desert)
Note that while Americans are used to getting coffee with their dessert, in Italy it is served after dessert, at the very end. You can have liquor or grappa at this point too if you wish!

More Tips

• The appropriate drinks to have with lunch and dinner are water and or wine. Beer is considered appropriate only with Pizza.
• Doggy bags are very uncommon, so try to have a big appetite. It is rude to not finish everything on your plate, more so than in the US.
• It is considered a big “no no” to put parmeggiano on any pasta dish containing fish!
• Don't expect butter for the bread, it is eaten plain, as an accompaniment to the pasta dish. Mopping with bread is the norm.
• Don't get drunk. Italians just don't do it, especially not in public.
• Praise to the cook is very appreciated. Especially if you are eating in someone's house, it is important to praise the food by proclaiming it "buonissimo!"

A Few Restaurant Suggestions From My Adopted City of Florence

Il Latini
Via dei Palchetti 6R
(Hard to find. Off the Via Vigna Nuova.)
Phone: 055 21 09 16
Open: Lunch and dinner
Closed: Lunch and dinner on Monday, lunch on Tuesday, two weeks in August, and the week between Christmas and New Years.
Note: Expect to wait in a line to get in. Reservations not accepted.
Although I love this place for its exuberance and its quintessential trattoria "look", the quality of the food has declined a bit in recent years. But it is still worth it if you want to experience one of the liveliest trattorias in the city. Dinners are seated at long tables wherever there is room. Thick pig's thighs hang from the ceilings, and wine bottles line the walls. As you wait in the long line to get in, you may appear so famished that they will bring you food while you stand in line. I brought a party of eight there the day after my wedding. When we finally got a table they immediately brought out food and wine. They told us what we wanted to eat! When they heard that my husband and I had just been married the day before, they brought free Spumante. When it came time to pay for the meal, the waiter/owner looked around the table, thought a minute, roughed it out in his head and named a price. It was incredibly reasonable.

Borgo Antico

Piazza Santo Spirito 6R
Phone: 055 210 437
Open: Lunch and dinner
Closed: Does not have a day of closure
This place is one I come back to again and again. If you are able to get an outdoor table you can look upon the façade of the Santo Spirito church. I enjoy the very "local" feeling of this piazza. It lacks the touristy flavor of the center of the city. The young waitresses at Borgo Antico wear skimpy tops that show their pierced belly buttons. Popular with locals and the young set, the portions are huge, and late night pizzas are served. Their antipasto di mare is excellent a huge. It can easily be split between 4 people and makes a meal for two. Since so many trattorias are closed on Sunday, I rely on Borgo Antico as a place where I can still find a great meal on a day of the week when many authentic places are closed.

Fuori Porta

Via Monte alle Croci 10 R
Phone: 055 234 2483
Open: Lunch and dinner
Closed: Sunday and August
This wine bar has always been my favorite in Florence since it opened in 1989. It has small wooden tables inside with a smoking and a non-smoking area. In nice weather one can sit outside by the quiet street that leads into the Florentine hills. Fuori Porta, meaning Outside the Door, is located in the quarter of San Niccolo where I lived in 1985. When you get to the San Niccolo quarter, find the large curving porta in the ancient walls that once surrounded the city. You'll see the wine bar just ahead of you after passing through the porta. This is where the revival of Florentine wine bars began, and where you will find one of the best wine lists in Florence. The fare here is simple and delicious. Try their crostoni, - crusty grilled Tuscan bread, open-face, with melted cheese of the finest Italian quality, topped with perhaps rucola or prosciutto and drizzled with olive oil.