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LA BELLA VITA

La Bella Vita: Every step of an Italian dinner and are dialects really dying out?

From the ins and outs of a traditional Italian dinner to how the use of Italian dialects is changing, our weekly newsletter La Bella Vita offers you an essential starting point for eating, talking, drinking and living like an Italian.

View of a table set for dinner in Metato, Lucca
View of a table set for dinner in Metato, Lucca. Photo by Steffen Lemmerzahl on Unsplash

La Bella Vita is our regular look at the real culture of Italy – from language to cuisine, manners to art. This newsletter is published weekly and you can receive it directly to your inbox, by going to newsletter preferences in ‘My Account’ or following the instructions in the newsletter box below.

Less elaborate than French cuisine, Italy’s cucina uses simple ingredients and tends to prioritise fresh local produce over complex cooking techniques. 

But while it may not be as sophisticated as its French counterpart, even an informal Italian dinner is still a multi-course affair, often stretching over several hours and involving various stages. 

If you’re invited into an Italian home for dinner, or are planning an Italian-style dinner yourself, here’s a useful rundown of the courses you can generally expect from a typical cena.

Antipasto to amaro: What to expect from every step of an Italian dinner

It’s a common scenario for foreign nationals in Italy: you’re at the local bar-pasticceria sipping on your frothy morning cappuccino and savouring a cornetto when you suddenly get the feeling that the Italian customers you’re overhearing aren’t actually speaking Italian at all.

Well, that may be because they aren’t.

From Veneto to Sicily, almost every corner of the country has its own regional dialect, though ‘dialect’ isn’t always the most appropriate way to describe Italy’s dialetti as many have evolved separately from what we know today as Italian and could be seen as languages of their own.

Though dialects were once preferred among locals over ‘standard’ Italian, even in formal settings, official statistics have shown for years now that only around 14 percent of Italians still speak their dialect at home. 

View of Naples in the summertime

In Naples and other parts of southern Italy, dialect is still widely used. But something curious is happening to the way many Italians use their local languages. Photo by Diego Mattevi on Unsplash

So does that mean that Italian dialects are disappearing for good, or are they simply evolving? Our writer Silvia Marchetti looks into how their use is changing in the article below.

Are Italy’s many dialects dying out – or just evolving?

Italian counts around 67 million native speakers around the world, and the way the language is used by these speakers isn’t always what visitors or new learners expect. 

Confusion often surrounds words that have crept out into the big wide world and taken on new meanings elsewhere.

We’ve put together eight words which you may never hear native speakers use (or at least not with the meaning you might expect).

Eight Italian words native speakers would never use

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LA BELLA VITA

La Bella Vita: Italy’s city tourist taxes and key Italian vocabulary for dining out

From knowing how much ‘tourist tax’ you’ll need to pay when visiting Italian destinations this summer to mastering essential Italian words and phrases for dining out, our weekly newsletter La Bella Vita offers you an essential starting point for eating, talking, drinking and living like an Italian.

La Bella Vita: Italy’s city tourist taxes and key Italian vocabulary for dining out

La Bella Vita is our regular look at the real culture of Italy – from language to cuisine, manners to art. This newsletter is published weekly and you can receive it directly to your inbox, by going to newsletter preferences in ‘My Account’ or following the instructions in the newsletter box below.

The summer months are by far the busiest time of year in Italy as millions of visitors travel to the peninsula from all over the world to explore its so-called citta’ d’arte (‘art cities’, including Rome, Florence and Venice), beach resorts or natural parks. 

But whether you’re staying in a big city, a seaside holiday spot, or a mountain resort, if you’re one of the 216 million tourists expected in the country this summer, there’s a good chance you’ll have to pay a local ‘tourist tax’ on top of your accommodation bill. 

The fee, which is used by local authorities to offset the costs of public services, is a frequent source of confusion for tourists as not all cities apply it, and those that do tend to vary their rates by type and star rating of accommodation, time of year or location.

As some cities plan to raise their tourist taxes this summer, we’ve looked at the rates (and exemptions) you can expect in Italy’s most popular destinations.

Tourist tax: How much is it increasing in Italy’s cities this year?

Besides an Italian nonna’s homemade cooking and the sagre food festivals cropping up in the warm months, dining out is arguably the best way to explore Italy’s famous cuisine. 

Generally speaking, waiting staff at most restaurants in big cities and holiday hotspots tend to have at least some basic knowledge of English, meaning you should be able to order your meal in inglese without a hitch.

But that’s not the case everywhere in the country.

Whether you’re dealing with staff with a cosi’ cosi’ command of English, or are simply eager to test out your Italian speaking skills, there is some essential vocabulary that’s well worth getting familiar with.

From prenotare un tavolo (booking a table) to pagare il conto (paying the bill), here are some key words and phrases to memorise before your next restaurant meal in Italy.

The essential vocabulary you’ll need to dine out in Italy

People eat in a restaurant in the Murazzi by the Po River, on May 8, 2024 in Turin.

Diners at a restaurant along the Po River in Turin. Photo by MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP

Speaking of paying the bill, Italian restaurants have some peculiar norms around squaring the books which can occasionally catch foreign visitors off guard – or even cause them offence in some cases. 

From where and how to pay to the controversial coperto charge and the tip/no tip dilemma, here’s an overview of what to do (and what not to do) for a stress-free experience next time you’re paying the bill in Italy.

What to do (and avoid) when paying a restaurant bill in Italy

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Is there an aspect of the Italian way of life you’d like to see us write more about on The Local? Please email me at [email protected].

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