To many, it is the pinnacle of the European dream. Dolce far Niente, pasta, vespas, pizza, and an admiration for one of the greatest cultures on Earth, Italy is arguably the world’s most sought out destinations. We’ve spent quite some time in this country, first visiting in the winter of 2021 during peak COVID season. While there are pros and cons of every country, Italy included, we do believe it DOES live up to the hype. I mean we went and lived in Lake Como this past month. We wanted to give our readers some essential tips to make your next trip to Italy go smoothly. In this blog, we will discuss everything that you need to know before you visit this amazing country. 

Tips

Coperto

If you didn’t already know, most places in Europe don’t require you to tip. This is the same for Italy; however, many places in Italy have a coperto fee when you sit down at a restaurant. We’ve seen them range from 1.50 euros all the way to 5 euros per person at some places (it does include bread).  Don’t be surprised if you get an extra fee for sitting down at a restaurant. Of course, this happens at more touristy cities such as Rome, Florence, and Venice.

Beyond Rome

I know, I know, “Rome is the greatest city on Earth!” Personally, I didn’t feel this way and while it is a must visit, there are so many more beautiful places in Italy that I think people miss out on. Yes, Rome is stunning, but don’t get stuck in only trying to visit the capital city. I promise you are missing out on some amazing places. 

Off Season

While the lush green of Lake Como and the crystal clear water of Amalfi in the July sun sound amazing, it comes at a cost. As we said, Italy is one of the most popular destinations on Earth and everyone, and I mean everyone is there over the summer. We recommend visiting in the off season. While winter may not be the best for some places, February – April is a great time of year. When we lived in Lake Como it was during February and March and honestly we had sunny days 80% of our time there. 

Avoid Main Piazza for Food 

Some of the best food we’ve ever had were in the small alleyways with only locals. I know you want to have pasta next to the colosseum but it will be seriously overpriced and it definitely will not be the quality of something you can have a bit further away from tourist centers. Enjoy your time seeing the beautiful places but when it’s time to eat, move away from the crowds and find something tucked away in a small street. 

Learn Italian

While some speak English, we found that it wasn’t as prevalent as places like Germany or the Netherlands. Learning a few Italian phrases will take you a long way and honestly, locals will be nicer to you if you initiate the conversation in their local language. This holds true for all countries we’ve been to. You don’t need to be a master of Italian but we believe these phrases will help you get by the most efficiently. 

“Ciao” hello informal or bye. It’s used quite often 

“Buongiorno” usually used as a greeting in the morning time to early afternoon 

“Buonasera” greeting in the evening and late afternoon 

“Avete” to have; we would use this to ask at restaurants if they had something 

“Dove” where; we would use this to ask where something is 

“Accettate la Carta?” There have been so many times in Europe where they didn’t accept card so we always ask, “do you accept card?”

Book tickets for opening hour

If you want to have the best experiences in the museums and monuments of Italy, please book for the earliest time slot well in advance and arrive 30 minutes before they open. If you go through our photos and videos of Italy it always seems like we have places to ourselves. That’s because we ALWAYS book for opening hour. When we visited the Colosseum it honestly wasn’t that busy when we went in; however, as soon as we left there was an insane amount of people that were there. Also, always book on official websites and not through third parties. 

Water

If you are from the United States, you know you can always ask for tap water. This isn’t the case in Italy. At restaurants, they only really serve water in paid water bottles. Either still or sparkling so just be prepared to have to pay for the water. There may be some places that give you tap water but it is very rare. We’ve been to about 7 major cities in Italy and had tap water served to us once or twice. Also, water is a bit expensive in Italy and just in Europe as a whole. We’ve found some places where beer was cheaper than water. 

Gelato

Italy does probably have the best ice cream in the world but there are literally hundreds of options within cities that it gets intimidating and honestly, not all of them are good. The best gelato is the ones that are stored in the CYLINDER metal containers that have a lid. If you walk in the store and they are stored in an open rectangular box, it probably isn’t the best. Here’s a quick formula. Cylinder + Lid = yummy. Rectangle + open = probably not yummy. One of our favorite gelato stores is named Grom, founded in the city of Turin.