#86 More tips for first time visitors to Italy
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Hello friend,
Are you ready for some more insider tips for your trip to Italy? As a travel writer who has explored most of this beautiful country, I've gathered some valuable tips to make your Italian adventure unforgettable.
1. First things first, try to learn some basic Italian phrases before your trip.
The locals will appreciate it, and you'll have a more authentic experience.
I encourage you to do a bit of language learning. Try to dedicate time to brushing up on your Italian, I think it is vital if you want to connect with locals and understand what is going on around you. Language is a fundamental part of the Italian culture, so if you want to understand and immerse yourself in an Italian getaway, learn some key phrases and greetings, learn to ask questions, learn how to order food, and do whatever else you want to do.
2. Don't stick to the tourist hotspots; explore the smaller towns and villages for a more authentic taste of Italy.
My advice to visitors is to spend time in the smaller towns. On the surface, small villages or towns may seem slow-paced and dull, but they are full of surprises. A smaller place will always offer a more authentic type of experience. Whether it be tracking down the village where your long-lost ancestors came from or visiting relatives. It is easy to hire a car for a day and go up into the mountains, along the coast or into the island's interior by bus. There are hundreds of small towns to visit in every Italian province, each with its unique history, sights, sounds and tastes. Small towns aren't as bustling and vibrant as the bigger cities, but visiting them will give you a sense of the natural colour and pace of day-to-day Italian life, which is much more satisfying than merely crossing things off a bucket list.
3. When it comes to food, go for the local specialities.
Avoid restaurants with menus in multiple languages and opt for places where Italians dine.
Food is never a problem in Italy. Even if you hurriedly run into a small supermarket, you can get a quick panino.
Larger supermarkets may even have cooked meals that you can wash down with a beer or wine readily available from the store. If you are wise enough to follow my advice and ask the local barista where you should go for lunch, you will already have a selection of recommendations for a place to enjoy a local meal.
If you want to taste the fresh local fare, your best bet is to eat at a Trattoria (family-run restaurant). Also, an Agriturismo (agricultural tourism farm stay hotel) usually grows and produces whatever they consume at their table. There are better alternatives to a Ristorante (restaurant), which will charge you more but will not give you the best experience.
A Trattoria or Agriturismo will always offer the best of local traditions, menus are seasonal, and all ingredients will be sourced from local farms and producers. The dining experience will be very casual, but the personal touch of charming hosts will make it the best meal you will ever have.
4. Don't worry about driving in Italy.
The country has an excellent public transportation system. Plus, you'll see more of the stunning landscapes from the train.
Negotiating local buses, trains or ferries to and from nearby towns and cities is easy. From Rome upwards towards Milan and Turin, there are high-speed trains. But if you aren't in a hurry and pack some food, you can brave the slower-paced trains down South.
Travel by train can be luxurious and picturesque, depending on where you want to go. Some places have loads of tunnels, while in Sicily, most of the railway lines are along the coast.
5. Be willing to get lost
In Italy, you must give yourself time and space for the unexpected. I can guarantee things will 100% not go the way you planned. For example, there are many places where your phone will go haywire. The mobile network is generally pretty unreliable in Italy, so don't rely on it too much.
Signage and roads can also be unpredictable in some places, so the best way to be sure is to consult a map beforehand or stop and ask for directions. Don't be alarmed because the best discoveries in Italy often come from stumbling upon things unexpectedly.
I've lost count of the number of times I've unearthed a stunning artwork in a tiny provincial town's church or the most fantastic palazzo by making a wrong turn, and the scenic routes in Italy will always offer the best landscape. Asking the locals will always lead you to the best places to stay or eat.
6. Bring some cash
 Italy is still not a cashless society. You will find that most places will prefer cash, and tiny eateries and markets will not accept cards. While there will be plenty of places to accept cards, you will notice that the locals are still paying in cold, hard Euros.
7. Be aware of siesta or pausa culture
Nowadays, in Italy, you will always find bigger supermarkets and malls, or shopping centres open throughout the day, but you will still find places in cities that are closed for part of the day. Usually, stores open at 9 am up until 12 or 1 pm, then close for lunch/siesta to reopen at around 4.30 or 5 and will be available until at least 8 pm.
8. Water pressure and hard water
You will find the water pressure and water in Italian bathrooms quite different from Australia, America, or the UK. Generally, due to older plumbing and smaller bathrooms, you will find the water pressure to be relatively low.
The water used in bathrooms and in houses or apartments generally contains a lot of calcium. This hard water is not very good for your skin. So try to keep bathing to a minimum; don't drink from the tap. Be sure to use a good skin cleaner, toner or micellar water for your face. Dry shampoo is a good option for hair. So, be aware of the subtle changes in your usual self-care routine and adapt.
Drinking water from fountains, bottled water (naturale and frizzante)
Drinking water instead is readily available at free-flowing natural spring water fountains. Even in most major cities, you will see the locals lining up with water bottles and large containers to get their table water. All water fountains are safe to drink from as authorities regularly test them. Italy has been blessed with plenty of high-quality drinking water. If you are ordering bottled water at an eatery, you will have to choose between frizzante or naturale, which is sparkling or natural. Italian sparkling is thirst-quenching but is a bit of an acquired taste. I recommend some acqua frizzante with a squeeze of lemon if you are parched or have a bit of indigestion.
Ice is evil
Italians hate anything cold, like iced drinks, air conditioning and cool breezes, I know it's strange. Generally, drinks aren't usually served with ice as people think it's not good for you. In fact, contact with extreme temperatures is generally believed to give you a chill and make you sick or give you a cold or flu. The same goes for air conditioning. According to local health mythology or folk beliefs, going from a cool room and back into the heat or vice versa will make you sick. Even going out into a draft or cold wind without a scarf around your neck will give rise to an inflamed 'cervicale' neck muscle.
So, if you want ice in your drink, you must ask.
But I am happy to report that ice is now readily available at supermarkets in Italy, so you can byo.
Supermarkets sell alcohol, prepare meals and make pannini on request
Like I said before, food is never a problem in Italy. There are so many options. You can buy bread rolls at supermarkets, and the people at the Deli will happily make up a pannino with whatever your heart desires. Supermarkets also sell all types of alcohol so that you can buy a bottle of wine or beer.
Some mega markets will also sell hot prepared meals you can eat in the supermarket or take away. A rosticceria sells things like oven-roasted chicken and potatoes, while a tavola calda will give you many pre-prepared home-cooked meal options to eat in-house or even take away.
Don't touch the fruit and veg (use the provided disposable gloves)
While buying your own fruit at the grocery, be sure to weigh and print out price tags, noting how each product is numbered. It would be best to use the provided disposable gloves, put everything into a bag, weigh it on the weighing station, punch in the product's number, and stick the price printed on a sticker outside the bag. Unless it says, it is priced 'alla cassa' when it will be priced directly by the cashier.
It is straightforward, so please do it; otherwise, you will be yelled at, told off or scolded by irate grocers.
But if you are shopping outside a supermarket, like at the markets or green grocery, you will be served individually. You are not allowed to touch the fresh produce. Someone will bag everything for you. You can point and ask for specific fruits or veggies, but the server is handling it all. Also, be very specific about how much you want, say a specific weight or number of things, because the grocer is very heavy-handed and will try to stuff in extra to get you to pay more. So be firm and threaten to leave if they put too much.
Take a number at the Deli
Cold cuts, cheeses and pre-prepared items are usually sliced fresh and sold by lots of 100 grams (un etto =100 gms, due etti = 200 gms etc). So, order whatever you want and select your quantity in grams, or if you are after small amounts, you can even specify the number of slices you require (una fetta or due fette, etc.)
Italians are terrible with lining up in queues; you must take a number or ask who is last in line, so you know who you are directly after in the queue. Even though everyone seems to be grouped randomly together, there is a system to it. Know your place in the general order of things.
Be prepared to eat more
Italians love two to three-course meals.
Generally speaking, as an Italian myself, I can freely and honestly say Italians are greedy with their food. They love a good meal and are happily obsessed with what they will prepare for lunch or dinner. Breakfast is usually a quick coffee or a pastry. But lunch is typically a plate of pasta with a second course of a main with a side accompanied by bread. Dinner is usually the same, or perhaps without the pasta.
If you are eating out, you will be given the option of an antipasto (appetiser), a pasta dish, and a main, followed by dessert, coffee, or digestive liquor.
Say Buongiorno (good day) or Buonasera (good evening), not Ciao
Most people aren't aware of this, but Italians have a precise way of being polite when addressing strangers.
Generally, it is more polite to say Buongiorno in the morning or Buonasera after midday as Ciao is used only with people you know or children.
Also, you are expected to use the formal lei form with people older than you, superiors in the work environment, people you don't know, and the archbishop or the Pope. Once you are on a first-name basis with the Pope, you can use the less formal form with the Pope's permission, of course.
Jokes aside, it’s actually quite heartwarming when you go from addressing someone as Lei and then as the relationship or friendship develops and you shift into tu. Some people are so friendly that they will immediately say, forget the formality and just dammi del tu, already.
Try to use the words you do know in the proper context
Bello or Bella is handsome or beautiful, while buono or buonissimo is good or delicious when discussing food. Don't mix these terms up; it isn't very pleasant. So, Bello is when something looks stunning, and Buono is when something tastes good.
And generally, if you don't know someone, you can't just say hey, Bella; that's the equivalent of saying Hey babe to a random lady. How rude and a little sexist to boot.
Try to avoid translating literally from English to Italian (this will lead you in the wrong direction with your language)
Once you start learning a bit of Italian grammar and vocabulary, it is very easy to try translating from English, but this is to be avoided. Many words sound like the English equivalent, and Italians find it very fashionable to insert English words into their conversations, but sometimes this can backfire.
There are many false friends, which have very different meanings in Italian. For example, foreigners will accidentally say someone is sensitive or 'sensitivo', while in Italian, 'sensitivo' means that someone is telepathic or clairvoyant. The correct word for sensative is ‘sensibili’. There are endless examples of these amici false.
Also, when something is spicy, it is peccante, not caldo. Caldo means hot, as in temperature; if the food is piping hot, it's caldo; if it's hot and spicy, it is peccante. The terms are not interchangeable like in English—yet another annoying mistake which come from literal translation.
. Be careful with verb translation too
Also, be aware that some verbs are used differently in Italian than in English.
In Italian, you say you have an appetite; you don't use the verb to be; you need to use the verb to have. So it's Ho fame (I am hungry) not Sono fame (which literally means I am hunger).
Some verb tenses change and cannot be translated literally.
Bring a phrase book
Italians love it when you try to speak Italian; they will help you out if you try, and even if you make mistakes, they will appreciate it.
A great way to start a conversation is to ask:
Come si dici … come si chiama questo in Italiano. (How do you say … what's this called in Italian).
You will be identified as a foreigner
Sorry to say it, but you will stick out as a foreigner, whether in your accent or dress, so be careful.
There is no way around this. You just have to deal with it. Italians will identify your foreignness immediately, which means they can either be very kind and accommodating, patronising or try to take advantage of you. I’m not saying you will be mistreated; it generally depends on the individual context.
Make sure you aren't being overcharged and ask questions if something seems too much or doesn't seem right.
Don't be afraid to walk away if you think you are being taken for a ride.
Respect places of worship
If you want to visit a church, please be respectful. Do not visit during service times, and wear appropriate attire. Often, places of worship will ask for shoulders to be covered and short sleeves or shorts are to be avoided. In some significant churches and famous religious sites, you will be denied entrance if you are scantily or inappropriately dressed.
Not many people know, but Italian churches are the best place to see art for free. The Roman Catholic church once engaged the best local artists and artisans to beautify their places of worship. You will find a treasure trove of sculpture, architecture and paintings. Even the most run-down-looking church will give you the best surprises. Most churches are open throughout the day; they don't cost you anything, and you can walk around without any problem just as long as there are no religious services. It would be best to be respectful and not take too many photos, especially in front of the altar.
If you are feeling generous, you can slip in a donation into the Offertory boxes, which usually go to the upkeep of the church. If you are lucky to bump into the local parish priest, you can easily ask them about the church; most priests work tirelessly to maintain their historic churches and will be more than willing to answer any questions.
I hope these detailed tips will help you make the most of your Italian adventure! Have any more questions? Comment below, and I'll be happy to help.
I know you will get to Italy sometime soon.
From
Rochelle
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My name is Rochelle Del Borrello (@rochelledelborrello), and I'm a writer, ESL teacher and blogger based in Sicily, Italy. Over the past decade, I've been writing about Sicily online, as a travel writer and on my blog. I started 'A Load off my Mind' to share more of my writing, thoughts, and discoveries directly and regularly with you. My newsletter is a way of sharing what is happening in my creative life in Sicily—part slice of life, part travel memoir and all with my philosophical yet honest point of view.
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