"No warnings, just learn some "rules" :)" Top 5 Page for this destination Italy Warnings Or Dangers Tip by Trekki

When I look at the warning & danger section in the Italy travel guide I come across so many “warnings” which are actually no warnings but clear cases that someone missed the rule “when in Rome, do as the Romans do” or learn the rules before setting a foot into a foreign country. Things are not like at home.

First of all there is the thing with coperto. That’s the cover fee in restaurants and it is not meant to rip off tourists. Italians pay the same. And it is completely irrelevant if this isn’t done at home or any other country. It is done in Italy and .. take it or leave it (it = Italy) is what I want to tell everyone who rants about it. The background of this cover fee is simply the cost for laying the table, including washing the linen and providing bread. In other countries tips are not included. Is this classified as rip off? No, it counts as common knowledge. So please prepare and add the coperto to the common knowledge of Italy.

Then there is this eating snacks on a piazza. That is not yet really forbidden, except in Venezia on Piazza San Marco and most probably also in other touristy places. The reason in Venezia is simple: the city officials are just sick and tired of the trash that had accumulated by people who come only for a day and try to save money by buying snacks and eat them while sightseeing. But apart from that, it is simply not an Italian thing. Do people watching and you will see that the locals don’t eat while walking. Eating is something that should be celebrated, in a restaurant or at home. And even in the small Pizza snack bars people will either take their pizza pieces back home or eat it inside. Apart from that, in Singapore it is also strictly forbidden to eat in public places.

At the fresh produces markets it is forbidden to touch the goods. One has to point to the pieces one wants and the seller picks them and wraps them. The sign “non toccare” is clear enough and very often it is also clearly written in English. Do not touch. In rural parts of the country there might be no sign, but then these are the parts where not many tourists flock and the locals do know their rules.

English might be the prime language worldwide but not necessarily in Italy, except where the tourist masses gather. This means that sometimes menus in restaurants or signs in museums might be in Italian only. Bring a dictionary or learn a bit of the language. It will not only help to translate menus but also serves as the key to the locals.

© Ingrid D., October 2010 (just in case, RickS or others come along and think they can steal texts).