Italian Steps - Places to eat - Cultural notes

Fact File

• Italian restaurants come in many different varieties. The word ristorante generally refers to the larger restaurants, which provide complete menus (fixed price or à la carte) cooked by professional kitchen staff and served by experienced waiters. But you're likely to find the food is just as good in a traditional family-run trattoria, where the accent is on casalinga, homemade dishes. Pizzerie are a good low-budget option where you'll often get meat and fish dishes as well as the obvious.



• Pizza is the takeaway of choice for most Italians and you can buy it al taglio, by the slice, from hole-in-the-wall outlets, but be aware that eating in the streets is often regarded as impolite. In 1830, the world's first pizzeria, Antica Pizzeria Port' Alba, opened in Naples and is still in business today. You can find paninoteche, sandwich bars, in all the large towns and cities, and rosticcerie providing roast chicken and other snacks.



• La tavola calda, literally 'hot table', is the Italian fast food alternative, serving pastas and other simple Italian specialties in a canteen-style environment. Birrerie serve cheap pastas and snacks such as burgers and sausages. Italians aren't, as a rule, keen on the concept of fast food. As a reaction to the opening of Italy's first McDonald's in Rome, the Slow Food movement was set up in 1986. It aims to save regional foods and small producers from extinction and to revive and celebrate taste and the senses.



• Osterie were originally taverns where mainly men went after dinner to play cards, smoke and swear. They offered simple fare, such as salame and decent cheap red wine. Nowadays, osterie have had a facelift and been transformed into trendy hang-outs, offering a range of wines, food and sometimes entertainment. In Bologna, the osteria is almost an art-form, with atmospheric décor and speciality dishes.



• It's a good idea to find out where the locals eat by asking Ci puo' consigliare un ristorantino locale non turistico per favore? And if you want special treatment, mention the person who recommended the restaurant to the owner when you arrive - it could guarantee you liqueurs on the house!



• As a healthy alternative, why not try un agriturismo, a farmhouse restaurant where the produce is homemade and often organically grown by the owners? As well as a massive inexpensive feast, you're bound to be offered plenty of the locally produced wine, il vino del posto, and local liqueurs.



• Children are welcomed, and that means really welcomed, in all but the very smartest establishments and although special children's menus are rare, you can ask for mezze porzioni, half portions.



• Tipping in restaurants isn't generally the norm in restaurants as the bill will normally include a cover charge, il coperto, which is usually listed on the menu. In addition, some restaurants will add a service charge, il servizio, of around 10% of the bill.



• For those with a sweet tooth, no visit to Italy is complete without a trip to one of the many gelaterie, ice cream parlours, where you will be bowled over by the range of different flavours of gelato, ice cream. For an equally dazzling variety of sweet and savoury pastries, cakes and biscuits, try una pasticceria, where you can often sit at a table and indulge.



• It's customary to wish other diners Buon appetito! literally 'good appetite', at the start of a meal, even if you don't know them. They will respond with Grazie or Grazie altrettanto, meaning 'Thanks, same to you'.