Despite. that most Italian children drink wine from an early age. there is no tradition of binge drinking in Italy. It is rare to see intoxicated people on the street. young people do not spend their evenings drinking heavily, and women who abuse alcohol are particularly condemned. Nevertheless, alcohol is rather cheap and sold in a wide selection. Thanks to the abundance of fresh fruit, soft drinks are also found in a whole range of flavors, and you can always quench your thirst with mineral water or a drink with ice.
Where to drink
Bars serve more as eateries than as centres of social life. At the same time, they are very similar to each other: all have a chrome counter. gaggia coffee maker, sometimes a phone call and a photograph of the local football team on the wall. You can drink your morning coffee in them. a pint of beer and a cup of tea, and also eat sandwiches, cookies or ice cream. but it is not customary to spend a long time there during the day or in the evening. In smaller towns it is difficult to find a bar. which would be open after an hour. 21.00. A Mediterranean feature of bars is the lack of top-down opening hours and the lack of a ban on children.
Regardless of the type of drink chosen, the system is always the same. First you pay at the checkout (la cassa). gives a bill (scontrino) bartender and repeats his order. Drinking standing at the bar is always cheaper (often there is not even a place to sit down). If you do not know how much a given drink costs, behind the counter there is always a list of prices (listino prezzi). It is customary to leave additional 50-100 L on the counter for the bartender, however, this is not mandatory. If there are waiters in the bar, you can sit at any table and wait. However, you need to remember, that it usually costs twice as much, especially if you sit in the outdoor garden (the exact prices are listed in the price list).
Coffee. tea, Drinks
The smell of freshly brewed coffee is one of the most characteristic smells of the Italian street. It usually comes from a bar (most trattorias and pizzerias do not have hot drinks). Coffee is always great: usually it is either a small black (espresso or just caffe) or cappucino with cream specially inflated hot steam. However, there are also other varieties; if you want an espresso with more water, ask for a lungo caffś. admixture of alcohol (you can ask to add any alcohol of your choice) contains caffb corretto, and caft macchiato is served with milk. In most bars, coffee is sweetened by itself, but in some you can get coffee already with sugar. To avoid this, you can ask for caffe senza zucchero, but this usually causes the bartender's surprise. Currently, decaffeinated coffee is served in many places (please ask for Hag. even if the bar serves another type of such coffee). In summer, cold coffee is also often served (caffś freddo), but the real delicacy is caffś granita, cold coffee with ice and whipped cream. These. who do not recognize coffee also have a choice of tea. Hot tea (these balances) served with lemon (eon Umone), and tea with milk (eon latte) you have to ask specifically. In summer there is also a perfectly refreshing cold tea (these freddo). Milk itself is drunk cold, hot, with coffee (latte macchiato) or in the form of a cocktail (trappe).
You can also choose from an abundance of cooling drinks (analcoliclre). Spremuta is a fresh fruit juice squeezed at the bar, usually from oranges, grapefruit and lemons. For lemon juice (…di limone) sugar is added, but orange juice (…di arance) it's sweet enough on its own (especially the juice of dark red varieties). Popular in Sicily, granitas with ice in addition to the coffee flavor are also found in several others. Besides, a regular set of carbonated drinks and concentrated juices is sold. Coca Cola is as popular as everywhere, and her Italian version of chinotto is less sweet and has some lemon in it. Tap water (aqua normal) is quite tolerable, and bars do not charge for it. More popular, however, is mineral water (aqua mineral), which can be carbonated (eon gas or frizzante) or not carbonated (senza gas or naturale). A glass of such water costs ok. 500 L.
Beer and spirits
Beer (birra) is most often bright and comes in bottles 1/3 l (piccolo) and 2/3 l (granda). Most popular, the cheapest and quite good are Italian beers Perroni and Oreher. If you want to receive them, you need to request birra nazionaie or provide the name of the company. Otherwise, you can get more expensive imported beer.
In most bars, in addition to bottled beer, there is also a more expensive draft beer (alla spina). You can also meet darker beers (birra neva or birra rossa) with a sweeter taste, appearance resembling strong or bitter beer.
All popular spirits are available in Italy, and are known mainly by their proper names (not corporate). Italy also produces its own varieties of the main types of alcohols, for example. the best Italian brands are Stock and Vecchia Romagna. A glass of one of them costs 1200 L. much cheaper than imported brandy. The national Grap-pa vodka comes from Bassano di Grappa in Venice Eugeneis. but is currently available nationwide. It is made of skins, stems and other ingredients not used in wine production, but its taste requires some getting used to. For amateurs, however, it is the cheapest way to get drunk that exists in Italy.
There are also fortified wines, such as Martini. Cinzano and Campari. Campari-Soda, on the other hand, is a ready-made drink in small bottles. You can also try cynar. artichoke sherry, often given as an aperitif. There are surprisingly many liqueurs. Amaro is a bitter drink, who drinks after dinner. Amaretto is sweeter and has a strong marzipan aftertaste. and Sambuca is dense, sweet-anise mixture, into which, according to tradition, coffee beans were put and set on fire. Today it is served in this way only for tourists. Another drink, which you can see in every bar is Strega. It is yellow, sweet and not the worst liqueur found in tall elongated bottles. A slice of lemon is ordered by saying spicchio di Umone, and ice, speaking gbiaccio.