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Life in Italy: How to spend 24 hours living the Italian way

Ever been on a break to Italy and wished you could be more like a local than a tourist? Writer Steve Atkinson has a few tips in the first of our Life in Italy series featuring readers' stories.

Published: 26 November 2019 11:11 CET

Life in Italy: How to spend 24 hours living the Italian way

Photo: DepositPhotos

Italians seem to be born into a culture of totally effortless cool – never in a hurry, always dressed to impress, and always in the right place at the right time. Let’s take a trip through the Italian day to unearth a few lesser-known gems of local culture that, if copied, will help you seem more local than a local while you're in Italy.

Mornings in Italy

Unlike in the US or the UK, where breakfast is almost a national institution (although I’m pretty sure the traditional English breakfast now only happens in cafes and hotels, superseded by half a slice of cold toast and some lumpy porridge for busy people with busy families), in Italy, breakfast is the least important meal of the day.

Photo: Depositphotos

A lot of Italians skip breakfast first thing in the morning, preferring to take a quick espresso or cappuccino at their favourite mid-morning bar, maybe accompanied by a pastry such as a cornetto (like a small croissant) or a slice of crostata (a typical Italian breakfast tart). This is often consumed standing at the bar.

When it comes to bars, especially in resort towns, you're likely to be charged more for a coffee, or any other drink, depending on where you drink it.

Drinking your espresso at the bar is the cheapest (and the most Italian), as you'll often be charged more for sitting at an inside table and even a little bit more for an outside table.

Your hotel may also serve you coffee and cake for breakfast. This is considered perfectly acceptable by Italian standards, though for the first-time visitor it can come as a bit of shock at first as you sit patiently waiting for the ‘real’ breakfast to arrive (reality check: it probably never will.)

Lunchtime in Italy

Although the days of long, wine-enhanced lunches appear to be on the decline in Italy (Italians, like everyone else, have started to take work a little too seriously over recent years), they are still there in essence.

Lunches tend to be lighter affairs these days, usually commencing about 1pm. After lunch, especially away from the main tourist hubs and out in the countryside, afternoons still tend to drift into a dreamy state of ‘not a lot happening’ for a good couple of hours – the perfect time for a siesta.

Empty streets in the afternoon are a common sight in small Italian towns. Photo: Depositphotos

Afternoons in Italy

For new visitors to Italy, this is the time when it all goes pear-shaped: they find themselves in a small town where all the inhabitants seem to have disappeared, the shops are all closed and they can’t even get out of town as all the buses and trains have stopped running.

Best to go with the flow, be more Italian and take a nap. Things pick up again around 4pm.

As the shops re-open post siesta and the people emerge to get some groceries or an ice-cream or to go back to work, life comes back into your typical Italian town.

A man rides his bike through the town of Lucca in the late afternoon. Photo: Depositphotos

Early evening in Italy

By 7pm the bars are busy, especially in the summer when prosecco is the order of the day: an aperitivo ‘to open the stomach’ in anticipation of the coming dinner.

In case a nibble is required in the meantime, little snacks of frittata squares, olives, crisps and little bowls of peanuts (with a teaspoon on the side to scoop out a hygienic portion – very civilised) appear on every bar counter.

Part of a typical aperitivo buffet at an Italian bar. Photo: Depositphotos

Meanwhile, couples and families take a slow stroll up and down the main street, stopping every few metres to pass some time with the neighbours. This is the pre-dinner ritual of the passeggiata.

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This is the part of the day when you need to be vigilant. If you rush in and out of the bars and shops, it will be immediately obvious to everyone that you're a straniero; a foreigner.

So slow down, chill out and blend in; there is no rush to go anywhere in this part of the day.

Evenings in Italy

By 8pm the bars may be empty, but restaurants are filling up, as are Italian family homes. Italian life has always centred around family, food and faith, and the kitchen table is the hub where everyone gathers for dinner.

Like lunch, la cena (dinner) in Italy might consist of several courses. There's the antipasti (starter), followed by a primo (usually a pasta dish), after that maybe a secondo, or meat dish, with sides of roasted courgettes or a mixed salad.

Photo: Depositphotos

You may then have some fruit or cheese followed by a light dessert such as tiramisu (whose literal meaning is ‘pick me up’ on account of the caffeine content.)

All this consumption may take place over a couple of hours. You may also be offered a digestivo (such as limoncello), which should help you deal with all that food.

Of course, it's not obligatory to order all the courses in a typical Italian dinner – unless you are really hungry.

Late evening in Italy

After dinner, and especially in the summer, another stroll into the town might be required – a kind of passeggiata part two – to work off all that pasta.

Maybe take a quick coffee, and later – there's no rush – a little more wine. Remember milky coffees such as cappuccinos are never drunk after dinner by Italians, so stick with espresso to be more local.

In the summer months, Italian towns tend to be awake until quite late. It is not unusual to see young children out with their families and playing with their friends until midnight in the squares. After all, school has finished for the hot summer months and they can catch up on sleep at siesta-time tomorrow, when the process starts all over again.

Photo: Depositphotos

Steve Atkinson is a blogger from the UK who manages and writes for the Abruzzo in Italy website: “When I'm not writing, I play guitar (really badly), and sing (even worse). I also practice speaking Italian (again, very badly – hey we’ve got quite a theme going here!) and dream about the day when my hair grows back… Ahh.”

Would you like to write a guest post for The Local Italy? Get in touch with the editor here.

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Ice to AC: Nine of the most common American misconceptions about Italy

It’s no secret that Americans love to visit Italy; the Washington Post predicted in December that the country would be Americans’ top foreign tourist destination for 2023, and the volume of US visitors who’ve arrived in Italy since then appears to have borne this out.

But while many Americans have a deep knowledge of – and love for – Italian culture, there are some surprisingly enduring myths about Italy that can be found in the USA specifically.

Some come close to the truth, while others fall wide of the mark.

There is no ice in Europe/Italian restaurants charge for ice

Fiction – Americans love ice, beverages are routinely served with it and refrigerators in the US often have some type of ice dispenser attached to the door.

But in Italy, ice is simply less prioritised. While ice in your drink will usually not cost you extra, you might need to specifically request it. Soft drinks in Italy are usually served without ice, so if you want your beverage iced, you need to request the drink con ghiaccio – with ice.

A classic Italian spritz should always come with ice. Photo by Tomasz Rynkiewicz on Unsplash

Italian homes don’t have dryers

Fact (mostly) – Tumble dryers do exist in Italy, but they’re rare. A survey published by Italy’s national statistics office (Istat) in 2014 found that just 3.3 percent of Italian households had one, whereas 96.2 percent had a washing machine and 39.3 percent a dishwasher.

Those washing lines strung with laundry hanging above the heads of passers by aren’t there just to create a quaint backdrop for photos – people make wide use of the abundant sun to air dry their clothes and sheets.

That does not mean that Italians in cities don’t occasionally use clothes dryers though if they’re in a rush; some might take items to a nearby laundromat.

McDonald’s is healthier in Italy

Fact (sort of) – McDonald’s uses different ingredients based on the country, and the Big Mac in Italy is (slightly) healthier than the one sold in the United States. It is slightly less calorific, with 509 kCal in contrast to the American Big Mac’s 540 kCal per 100g.

The Italian Big Mac also has less salt and fat, but it does not compare to the world’s healthiest Big Mac (found in Israel).

McDonald’s in Italy also uses EU-sourced ingredients, and the EU restricts the usage of additives and growth hormones. For example Azodicarbonamide which is used to bleach flour, is banned in the EU, but not in the United States, where McDonald’s was still using it as of 2016.

It is true, however, that you can buy beer in McDonald’s in Italy.

McDonald’s burgers are marginally healthy in Italy compared to the US. Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Italians drive small cars

Fiction (increasingly) – Think of Italian cars, and you might picture a classic Fiat 500 puttering around picturesque cobbled streets – but that’s all changing.

2021 was a historic year for the Italian automotive industry: the sale of SUVs surpassed those of medium-sized sedans for the first time, claiming 48 percent of the market share compared to the sedan’s 45 percent.

That may not match the US, where SUVs and pick-up trucks currently account for around 73 percent of vehicles sold, but it’s a huge increase from 2012, when SUVs made up just 17 percent of vehicle sales in Italy.

There are no free public toilets

Fact (mostly) – You will occasionally find an Italian town or city that offers some free public toilets. For the most part though, you’ll have to pay, including in train stations – and even paid public toilets are few and fair between.

Instead, you’re better off heading to one of the many caffe-bars found all over the country and paying for a euro for a bottle of water or a coffee so you can use their facilities – if you ask nicely, you might even be allowed to go for free.

Metro stations, supermarkets and grocery stores tend to not have any toilets at all, and neither will most clothing stores. One place you will find plenty of free public bathrooms, though, is a motorway service station.

Something that strikes many visitors to Italy as odd is the lack of seats on public toilets. Exactly why this is the case is debated, but there’s a general consensus that the phenomenon has rapidly accelerated in the past couple of decades.

A street sign at an antiques fair in Turin. Free toilets in Italy are few and far between. Photo by rashid khreiss on Unsplash

Italy doesn’t have air conditioning

Fact (sort of) – There’s not no air conditioning in Italy – in fact data from Italy’s national statistics office showed that one in two Italian households had AC in 2021.

It’s far less popular than in the US, though, where 90 percent of households have air conditioning. There’s still not much of a culture of AC in Italy, where many believe it will give you a colpo d’aria leading to at best a sore neck and at worst pneumonia – so even households that have a unit tend to use it sparingly.

If your hotel or Airbnb doesn’t specifically mention AC, you can assume it doesn’t have it.

Coca-Cola tastes different in Italy

Fact – While Coke is available almost everywhere in the world, the actual ingredients in Coca-Cola are different in some countries, which could lead some Coke connoisseurs to notice a difference in taste between the products in the US and those in the EU.

The biggest difference is the regular Coke – in the US this uses high fructose corn syrup while in Europe cane sugar is used to sweeten the product, resulting in a significant difference in taste.

You’re much more likely in Italy to come across Coca Zero, the zero-sugar version of Coca-Cola, than Coca-Coca Light, the European version of Diet Coke, which has always been hard to find and which some online sources say Italy stopped distributing altogether in 2022.

Coke in the US: different to its European counterparts. Photo by Cody Engel on Unsplash

You don’t need to tip

Fact – It’s not necessary to tip after a restaurant meal in Italy. However, this is a matter of personal choice and you are free to do so (tipping certainly won’t cause upset).

Diners do often leave some change after a particularly enjoyable meal. In terms of how much to give, some people round up a bill to include a tip, while others give what spare change they have.

Some people may also opt to tip other professionals as well, such as taxi drivers and cleaners, but again – this is optional and typically not a large quantity. In some apartment buildings, residents may give a Christmas card with money inside to the portiere (doorman) as a kind of annual tip.

All cars are stick shift

Mostly fact – In the United States, stick shift vehicles are becoming a thing of the past, but in Italy they are still very much being bought and driven.

As of 2018, around 20 percent of new cars sold in Italy were automatic – which is much higher than the less-than-one percent sold in the 1980s, but still a lot less than the US’s figure of 96 percent.

That said, around 70 percent of SUVs sold in Italy use automatic transition, so with the popularity of these larger vehicles on the rise, you can expect to see more automatics on Italian roads in the future.

What do you think? Have you noticed any other common beliefs or misconceptions about Italy in the US, or elsewhere? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

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