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ITALY EXPLAINED

Why is bingo so popular in Italy at Christmas?

In many parts of the world, a game of bingo is associated more with pensioners than fashionable parties. But in Italy it’s an essential part of the holidays for people of all ages.

Published: 19 December 2023 16:03 CET
Updated: 24 December 2023 08:30 CET
Why is bingo so popular in Italy at Christmas?
Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

On Christmas day, Christmas Eve, and at many New Year’s Eve parties in Italy the main activity – other than eating – is a game of tombola, which is very similar to bingo.

Tombola was created in Naples in the 1700s as an alternative to gambling, which the church didn’t approve of.

READ ALSO: Red underwear and smashed plates: Six strange Italian New Year traditions

The story goes that King Charles of Naples made a concession to the Catholics and said he would ban gambling during the Christmas period only. But Neapolitans found a way to get around the new law by playing tombola at home during the holidays. 

It’s still enormously popular today, particularly in southern Italy, so if you’re invited to a New Year’s Eve party at someone’s home don’t be surprised when all the guests gather round as the tombola board is brought out.

Tombola features a billboard with numbers from 1 to 90 and a card for each player with boxes containing 15 random numbers. These can be homemade using pens and paper, though many families will have a shop-bought tombola game.

Each player has one or more cards, for which they need to pay a small sum of money, or can give other items, such as sweets. This becomes the prize for the winner.

One player acts as the caller, and just as with bingo in other countries there are humorous names and associations to go with each number, which here are derived from Neapolitan dialect.

Players check off the numbers as they’re called, or cover them with dried beans, pasta, nuts, orange peel, or whatever they have to hand. The winner is the first to cover all of the numbers on the card.

The winner of the game is whoever ‘makes the tombola’, or who is the first to cover all the numbers on one of their cards, though there are sometimes also smaller prizes for getting, for example, five numbers in a row.

READ ALSO: Panettone or pandoro: Which is the best Italian Christmas cake?

If you have Italian family members you’ll know that they can get really into this game and that it can go on for a while, especially if there are children involved.

Another popular option is to get out a pack of cards near the end of the meal and linger at the table playing a game of scopa or buracco, eating wedges of panettone (or pandoro), and refilling the moka pot (or making another trip to the wine cellar).

Are you a fan of tombola? What other Italian Christmas traditions does your family enjoy? Let us know in the comments section below.

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ITALY EXPLAINED

Why you don’t need to leave large tips at Italian restaurants

Many visitors from the US leave a generous tip as standard when dining out in Italy, while others say no tip is necessary. So what are the rules and how much should you really leave?

Published: 25 June 2024 16:52 CEST
Why you don’t need to leave large tips at Italian restaurants

American tourists, coming from the land of mandatory tip culture, are prone to reflexively tipping 20 percent or more wherever they travel in the world. And many would be aghast at the idea of not leaving a tip at all.

But in Italy, as regular visitors know, tipping really is not required or expected. 

Visitors are sometimes confused about this because staff at some restaurants encourage American visitors to tip generously by suggesting that it is, in fact, the norm.

If Italians tip, they do so occasionally for good service, and making a habit of tipping modestly when dining out in the country will help you blend in better with the locals.

Why don’t Italians tip in restaurants?

If you come from a country where tipping is expected it can feel uncomfortable not to do so.

But there are a couple of reasons why Italians don’t usually tip – or if they do, they leave a moderate amount.

Reader question: How do I know if I should tip at Italian restaurants?

Italian restaurant bills often already include small service charges, normally of a couple of euros per head, which will be listed as servizio on the bill.

(You might also see a ‘coperto’ or cover charge, which is not specifically a service charge. This goes to the restaurant rather than the server.)

And Italy doesn’t have much of a tipping culture simply because Italian wait staff aren’t reliant on tips to get by like they are in many parts of the US. 

As is the case elsewhere in Europe, they are paid a standard wage and any tips are viewed as an added extra.

So, while tipping is always appreciated, rest assured that it’s entirely your choice (beyond servizio charges.)

What if I want to tip anyway?

Italians might tip in recognition of standout service and when there’s no servizio charge listed.

But tipping here is modest: it would be very unusual to leave 20 percent or even more.

You can leave an Italian-style tip in the form of a couple of extra euros per person, or by rounding the bill up to the nearest five or ten.

READ ALSO: What are the rules on tipping in Italy?

If you’re paying by card, bear in mind that very few places will be able to add a tip to the card payment – so you might want to carry some change or small notes with you.

What if the waiter asks for a tip?

It’s not unheard of for wait staff at some restaurants in tourist hotspots to suggest that tipping is a requirement in Italy, or even to tell customers that “service is not included”.

Restaurant staff in popular destinations are of course well aware of the generous amounts commonly left by some overseas visitors – and some do try to encourage this.

While this tactic leaves some customers unimpressed and less likely to tip, others say they feel pressured and end up tipping just in case.

If there’s no servizio charge on the bill, it may be technically true that service is not included.

But tipping is always at the customer’s discretion in Italy, and staff at reputable restaurants don’t tend to ask.

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