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3 Things to Know about Gratuities in Italy… To Tip or Not To Tip

What about gratuities? Do I leave anything for the waiter?

How about gratuities? Clients often ask me that simple question. Its a cultural difference that we sometimes don’t understand.

1- Gratuities or Tips are a personal choice that are always appreciated, but never taken for granted or expected. Unlike North America, tipping is not expected and it doesn’t go towards subsidizing an income that should have been taken care of by the employer. Italians are proud people and one mustn’t confuse gratuities with a hand-out.

italiabound.com gratuities waiter

The best way to know if you should leave a gratuity or not is to ask yourself the following question: Am I tipping because he or she provided an exceptional service and went above and beyond my expectations? If the answer is yes, then a token of appreciation can be left on the table. Nonetheless, it is not mandatory. It should be out the goodness of your heart and not what people will think if you don’t.

 

 

  5 Things to Know About Dining in Italy

 

Know Who You Are Tipping

2- You never tip the owners of the business, such as in a restaurant, a salon,  or mechanic. Nor you should give gratuities because you feel bad for that individual for doing his/her job. Again, Italians are proud, and if they feel you are tipping because they think that you feel sorry for them, then they may see this as an insult and just may refuse the tip. If they do refuse it for whatever reason, please don’t feel insulted. Understand it and move on. Don’t force it.

3- Waiters have a set salary, as well  as tour guides. I would recommend a tip of appreciation for guides for showing you the sites. Taxi drivers are on salary so there is no need to tip. In any case, you just round the amount to the nearest Euro or so.

Rome italiabound.com gratuities waiter

A Gift Goes Further

Bonus- In some circumstances, it’s more appropriate and also more appreciated to give someone a gift instead of money for having gone beyond the call of duty. That would be more for owners of businesses or maybe the manager or concierge of a hotel. If you stayed several nights there and they accommodated with concert tickets, museum passes or really good recommendations for restaurants, then consider it. If you take in a cooking class for instance as a token of appreciation such as a gift, it goes further than money since in most cases it’s the owner/chef that gave the course… And if the gift is from your country… better yet. Italians appreciate when individuals go out of their way to make them feel special or appreciated and sometimes money is not the only reward.

If you know that you may possibly be running in one of these situations, you could purchase something in your country and have it ready if needed on your travels.  If someone really did something great for you,  you can always send it once you returned home.

‘Til then…Buon viaggio.

Are  you travelling to Italy and are interested in my assistance, or would like to comment on my post?  Just drop a line below or contact me privately at info@italiabound.com.

 

5 Things to Know About Dining in Italy

 

Italy’s food culture is unique in many ways. From their passion with slow food, to the diversity of their cuisine varying from one region to an other, and often from town to  town. Food and eating together is the reason why Italians exists.

Life, relationships, family and even work often revolve around the table. Food is to Italians what the heart is to our body. Without it it’s society would die. Everything is planned around that. Although eating is important, just as important are the Italian etiquette around food and restaurants. often quite different from  North America.

 No Need to Tip

1- Unlike in North America where staffing is inexpensive because we expect the restaurant goers to pay for the hired help with tips, in Italy the servers and cooks have a set labour contract. Their wages are completely covered so you don’t need to tip. It’s never expected, but if you like to, it’s a minimal amount.

When is the Best Time to Eat?

2-  Restaurants are not always open ready to serve anytime you feel hungry, unless you are in a tourist infested area. Restaurants tend to open just before noon and stay open until 2:30 PM or so. In some cases, they don’t take tables past 2:00 PM.

They re-open again later around 7 o’clock in the evening and dinners are served until late.  It all depends on the location; downtown, suburbs, big cities, small towns or high traffic areas on highways

. The seasons also play a big role in when restaurants open and close. Most places are closed one day, some two days of the week, usually Monday, Tuesday but also Wednesday or Thursday.

That Seems like a lot of Food

3- Italians eat in courses at both lunch or dinner. They’ll have at least two plus the caffe.

Antipasti. (appetizers) Not to be confused with aperitivi.

Primi. (first dishes) usually those are starches, such pasta or risotto or soup.

Secondi. (second dishes) tent to be meats, fish. Often you would receive the meat by itself with no sides.

Contorni. (side dishes) Arrive with you secondi maybe salads, steamed and cooked vegetables or fries, etc. etc.  These are brought on different plates.

Formaggi (cheeses) Usually this will be a selection of local cheeses.

Dolci. (dessert)

Frutta. (fruit) It is common to finish with fresh fruit. And last but not least…

Caffè. This is always an espresso and sometime it’s corretto which means that grappa or another kind of liquor is added to the caffè. Never ever order a cappuccino or a macchiato at end of meal. It’s frowned upon.

Cover Charge?… for What?

4- Coperto is a cover charge for each person sitting down having dinner. This varies from 1 to even 5 Euros or so depending on the type of restaurant. A pizzeria is usually 1 to 2€ for instance. Osterie style restaurants may not even have one. High-end restaurants will be more. The charge goes back to the medieval days when the inns would charge for using the place when customers would bring  their own food and just used the inn as a refuge from the weather. The cover is for the linen, cutlery and bread. This would be posted on the menu so there are no surprises.

Free Food?

5- Aperitivi are not antipasti, so if you drop in at a bar around 6 o’clock or so you can go for a aperitivo and in most cases food is served with it free of charge. Yes, the food is free, as long as you buy a drink. Some bars (bars in Italy are cafés or wine tasting shops) offer apercena, which translated is aper (aperitif) and cena (dinner).

Here you can literally eat to your heart’s desire and all you pay for is your drinks. Often you do this standing up and/or outside the bar in the street while wandering in and out sampling and eating finger food and chatting the night away. I recommend finding at least one of these places while you are traveling. It’s a great way to see the Italian dolce vita at work while sampling different dishes and wines. Here you pay before you eat.

BONUS…

You must always ask for the bill, as waiters will not bring it to you automatically at the end of your meal. It would be considered extremely rude to do that. The reasoning behind this is that the evening is not finished just because the food is. Italians often stay and talk for hours after the caffè and only when they are ready to leave they ask ( by a hand wave) the bill.

DOUBLE BONUS…

Lately all over Italy and mostly in the larger cities a new phenomenon  is occurring.

Restaurants where the “ imbonitori” stand outside and invite you in. You’ve seen them in the Latin Quarters in Paris and there they belong. But in Italy…No thank you! Often these hosts offer a free appetizer or a drink (but you will pay for it in other ways) to entice you to enter. They may even tell you that they serve the best pasta in town.

It’s pretty obvious that these are only really inviting tourist as regular restaurant goers would never think of being duped by these individuals. If they need to ” invite”, the food is usually not that good. Even Italian tourists in their own country would never go here so why should you?

AVOID at all cost these places. Stay clear. But, if you do go, you then lose the right to complain that you’ve been to Italy and the food was terrible.  You have been warned.

“Uomo avvisato mezzo salvato”.

Translation : Man that has been warned,  is a man half saved”

‘Till then… Buon Viaggio!

Are  you travelling to Italy and are interested in my assistance, or would like to comment on my post?  Just drop a line below or contact me privately at info@italiabound.com.