We will talk about three Italian words that our people usually encounter when visiting catering establishments in Italy. In the text I will use these words in Italian for their recognition in the future, so I will give their translation into Russian.
coperto - serving pane - bread servizio - serving
Russian tourists often wonder how legal are the additional items that Italian restaurants include in the bill, such as “coperto”, “pane e coperto” or “servizio”.
These words have historical origins. The word "coperto" refers to the use of tablecloths, napkins, dishes and cutlery by clients, which must be tidied up after each use.
// vagant.livejournal.com
This term originated in the Middle Ages, when many restaurant patrons would bring their own food and use public utensils and tables.
When using the “pane e coperto” article, it is implied that you need to pay for some additional services that are not included in the “coperto” article.
The term "servizio", which can be 15-20% of the bill, arose at a time when waiters did not have a fixed salary, and their salary was paid from the additional income of the restaurant, depending on the amount of the bill. Currently, waiters always have a fixed salary, but the item, however, has not disappeared from the accounts.
Although many food service customers now consider these surcharges to be unfair and illegal, there are no statewide laws that prohibit restaurants from adding them to their bill. The only condition is that the menu indicates what additional fees exist in this establishment. Regulation of the application of these articles is entirely left to local authorities.
Let us consider the regulation of this issue using the example of Rome. In 1995, a decree of the city mayor prohibited the use of the "coperto" clause when issuing invoices to clients. Instead, it was prescribed to include either “pane e coperto” or “servizio” in the bill. The next legislative act of the city administration in 2006 prohibited the use of the article "pane e coperto", but left the possibility of using the article "servizio". At the same time, it was once again emphasized that the existence of additional fees, no matter how they are called, must be known to the client before he places an order.
To ensure that our tourists in Italy are not surprised by additional items on the bill, we can advise them to carefully read the menu before placing an order at a restaurant. If you have any doubts, you can contact the waiter or the restaurant administration for clarification.
Everyone knows that in Italy there is a real cult of food, and the verb “mangiare” (Italian “to eat, eat”) is the second word after Ciao that every person who decides to master the Italian language learns.
By the way, studying the Italian language and Italian gastronomy are generally similar processes, because each region not only of Italy has its own cuisine with its own characteristic dishes, but also its own dialect, and the dialects of some regions of the country differ from each other no less than the Serbian language from Russian. However, as in Italian grammar, there are general rules in Italian gastronomy, but there are also characteristic mistakes that tourists who come to this country for the first time often make. Today’s post is about typical tourist mistakes.
MISTAKE ONE. DON'T KNOW RESTAURANT OPENING HOURS
In Italy they eat by the hour, and the work of Italian restaurants is tied to these hours. For lunch (pranzo in Italian), restaurants open at noon and stay open until 2:30 p.m. Of course, in Milan you can find an establishment with a kitchen open at any time during the day, but even in Rome in good restaurants the kitchen is almost always closed from 14.00 to 18.00.
ERROR TWO. TRY TO FIND A WINE FROM THE CHIANTI GRAPES
Chianti is the most famous Tuscan wine, but carefully examining the label in an attempt to detect Chianti grapes in its composition is a stupid and pointless task. The fact is that for the production of Chianti, Sangiovese grapes were, are, and will be used, from which, by the way, all red wines are produced in the province of Emilia-Romagna, neighboring Tuscany.
But Sangiovese is a very capricious grape, and the cunning Tuscans learned to make a blend using Sangiovese (70%), Canaillo (15%) and white malvasia (15%). In Tuscany you can also find Chianti made only from Sangiovese, but the Chainti grape does not exist in nature.
ERROR THREE. ORDER SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE
Spaghetti Bolognese is a dish that every self-respecting Bolognese hates. The fact is that such a dish simply does not exist in Bologna, that is, it is, of course, found in the menus of restaurants aimed at tourists, but the residents of Bologna themselves never order it.
According to the residents of this city, spaghetti Bolognese is a parody of their traditional national dish, tagliatelle with ragu. This is another type of pasta with minced meat, only the pasta is completely different, and therefore the taste of tagliatelle con ragu is very different from spaghetti Bolognese. Yes, spaghetti Bolognese is rumored to have been invented in America by Italian immigrants; it was just that another type of pasta was difficult to find in the United States at that time.
ERROR FOUR. LOOK FOR SEAFOOD IN MARINARA PASTE
Despite the very marine name, Marinara pizza has nothing to do with seafood at all. In contrast, Marinara is a simplified version of Margherita and the cheapest variety of pizza. The only ingredients for it are tomato sauce, olive oil and garlic. No seafood included. .
By the way, one more nuance: in Italy it is customary to order pizza per person, and not one pizza for the whole company. Of course, if your physical capabilities do not allow you to break the entire pizza, they will serve it to you for company, but you need to immediately tell the waiter that you will not be eating the pizza alone, so that he can bring additional plates.
ERROR FIFTH. ORDER FOCACCIA AS BREAD
In Moscow trattorias, focaccia is most often sliced pieces of bread with the addition of rosemary or some other spices, so it is often ordered as an addition to the main dish. In Italy everything is more complicated. In the Liguria region, where focaccia was invented, it is a large, thick flatbread that you devour for breakfast.
If you see “Focaccia with Pesto” on a restaurant menu, then you should know that this is a full-fledged dish: a pizza-sized flatbread, generously sprinkled with pesto sauce, and it is supposed to be eaten with a knife and fork. In the north, for example, in the Veneto region (Venice, Verona) everything is even more interesting, here focaccia is a pie that is prepared for Easter, and most of all it resembles our good old Easter cake. In short, to avoid getting into trouble, first find out what kind of focaccia we are talking about, and only then place an order.
Italian cuisine is one of the best in the world. This is a fact that does not require proof. I came to this on my own, although not right away.
My first acquaintance with Italian cuisine
When I started working with Italians as an Italian translator, I naturally encountered Italian cuisine. Pasta was especially difficult. My Russian stomach, accustomed to potatoes and meat, did not want to accept them.
But then I was hired as a translator at an Italian construction site in Vladivostok, where I began to live with Italians at the base, and where they prepared purely Italian food from purely Italian products. There, pasta was given every day for lunch, and for dinner you could eat it a second time if it was left over after lunch. When I returned to Moscow a year later, I could no longer live without pasta.
Features of food in Italy
- Italians have food “on a schedule”, that is, breakfast from 7 to 9, lunch from 12 to 14, and dinner from 19 to 22. Between lunch and dinner, you certainly won’t die of hunger - you can eat a sandwich at a bar, or at McDonald’s, at worst. But lunch or dinner in a normal restaurant is only at scheduled times.
- Breakfast is light - cappuccino (in Italian cappuccino) with a bun. By the way, Italians drink cappuccino ONLY in the morning, and laugh at Russians who order it for lunch, or what’s even worse (in their opinion) for dinner. At the hotel you will be given a normal hearty breakfast - so don’t worry.
- Italians “share lunch with a friend.” It is customary to eat either a portion of pasta, pizza, or salad.
- For dinner, the "eat it yourself" principle applies. It is customary to eat according to the full program: first – second – third. And for the first time they have -... that's right, pasta. I traveled to Italy a lot, both as a translator and on vacation, and only once did I come across soup, if you don’t count Zuppa di Pesce (translated from Italian as “Fish Soup,” but it very vaguely resembles our fish soup).
- Strong drinks - only 50 grams, and only at the end of the meal. Of course, you can come with your charter and order moonshine (in Italian “grappa”) right away, there are no problems - Italians are very flexible in matters of service, but don’t be surprised if they look at you with surprise. When a large group of guests arrives, the owner of the establishment does not waste time on trifles, and does not count how many grams of strong drinks each guest will drink, but simply puts a bottle on the table. BUT! This does not mean that you need to finish it or take it with you!
- But water is given by default. They just ask Aqua Friedzante(translated from Italian as “fizzy”) or Aqua Naturale(translated from Italian as “ordinary”).
Tipping in a restaurant
In Italy it is not customary to leave a tip. It's already written on the invoice " coperto"(something like a tip) usually 2 euros, translated from Italian about 150 rubles, for each person. After you have eaten, go to the exit, there is always a cash register there, pay, they give you a receipt and change to the penny. This Fine.
In Italy, it is customary to pay at the cash register in a restaurant.
What food to buy in Italy
A Russian translator, when visiting Italy, buys the following standard set of products for Moscow:
- Italian sweets - for girls, but only in winter and autumn, the rest of the year they will melt :(
- Italian wine for men; in Moscow, of course, Italian wine is also sold, but, firstly, it is at least 2 times more expensive (and if you want to buy VERY good wine, then a bottle costs from 20 euros), and secondly, while Russian dealers will deliver the wine to Moscow stores, it very often turns sour.
- Italian cheese; grated and in pieces; from hard ones it is better to buy Parmesan ( Parmiggiano Reggiano), but Grana Padano is also suitable; soft - Gorgonzola ( Gorgonzola), moldy, but keep in mind that it can be stored for a maximum of 12 hours without refrigeration;
- several jars of Italian sauces, for example, Pesto alla genovese, Pesto Rosso, Sugo alla Bolognese,ecc.
- package of Italian bagels Taralli Pugliesi(typical food from the Puglia region).
- stick of Italian sausage - the best in the world, a simple type sausage Salame Nostrano or Venetian Sopressa cost from 10 euros per kilogram, still made from natural products, without any soy, etc. A higher level sausage is called Salame Felino.
There is no point in buying olive oil in Italy, because... Greek, Tunisian, etc., which are sold in Moscow, are no worse. Amaretto and Martini cost the same in Moscow Auchan; I don't like Limoncello.
When you come to Italy for the first time, the word “Coperto” evokes the greatest amazement. For many, its appearance on a restaurant bill is so unexpected that it may well equate to swearing. So what is this wonderful word, how did it appear and what does it mean?
2. Literal translation coperto - covered. But in a broader sense it means a set table. Fixed service fee in restaurants and trattorias. The cost varies from 0.5 euros to 5. Depending on the level of the restaurant, its popularity and location.
3. Coperto is not a universal Italian hobby, it is mainly found in tourist places aimed at tourists. In smaller villages, towns, far from tourist trails, you will not find such a word in the restaurant menu. It can also be an evening phenomenon. During the day, a restaurant may not charge you a coperto, but in the evening, be so kind as to pay.
4. So what are you paying for in service? Table, tablecloth, cutlery, bread and waiter's work. Don't want to pay coperto? You can sit at the bar or take food with you. In this case, coperto will not be included in your bill.
5. The history of the appearance of this word is interesting; it will seem somewhat absurd to you and me. Back in the Middle Ages, during the cold season, people went to trattorias to eat food they brought with them. Yes Yes. We went into a restaurant, took a sandwich out of a backpack, some tea from a thermos and ate it right there. It was almost impossible to fight them, and then restaurant owners introduced “coperto” - a fee for using the table, equipment and service. For us it sounds crazy, they hit us with cabbage soup and kicked out such a client, but this is tolerant old Europe. The inscription was placed at the entrance, and every rogue knew how much it cost to eat his food in this particular place.
6. Times have changed, but brazen extortion has not left the menu of restaurants and remains in the most popular, pass-through places. So, if you want to drink coffee with a beautiful view in a cozy cafe, take a close look at the coperto. Perhaps you will pay 1 euro for coffee and another 4 euros for service. It’s easy to avoid this, as I said, drink coffee at the bar or take it with you.
But not only the word coperto may surprise you, there is also servizio and makes up 15-20% of the bill. So if you don’t see a coperto sign in a restaurant, don’t rush to go in, you might be ripped off even more.
Day three started early - around 4:50
The drowsiness quickly subsided as soon as we reached the embankment. It turns out that the city, or some part of it, has not slept for a long time. There was a market on the street. Coming closer my surprise only increased: the bargaining was for used items. There were blankets on the spit-stained sidewalks, on them were worn sneakers, T-shirts, pants, point-and-shoot cameras, and half-used shampoos. For the most part, everything is old and in poor condition.
There was a heavy traffic of buyers in both directions. Not Italians. Something was happening that I still don’t know what to call. We came across this impromptu market on the last day of our stay in Genoa, around the same time. For myself, I made the assumption that this stolen items from tourists. But maybe I screwed myself up.
I'll tell you about Trenitalia tickets. If you are already familiar with the Italian railway system, feel free to go a couple of paragraphs down. We'll start with the basics.
The Italian railway is a convenient (read: almost the only way for independent tourists) way to travel around the country. There are regional trains, there are interregional ones; the trains have first and second class (you will feel the difference in price).
You can buy tickets a) at the station window; b) at the station at an English- or French-language machine (for cash or using a card); c) on the Internet. Prices are the same everywhere.
There are several types of tickets. If you book tickets one day in advance or on the day of departure, you'll likely only be faced with a choice of second or first class. The price difference is about 50%. Usually tickets of both classes are always in abundance.
Tickets have an open date (something within 2-3 months). Only the departure time remains strict. You can change it at the cashier window. Locations not specified.
On the platform or in the transition you validate your ticket. Get on the train and sit in the carriage of your class (it is written on the doors) in any free seat. If there is no free space, move on through the carriages. If the space is occupied by someone's bag, don't hesitate to ask for it to be removed. Well, in the worst case scenario, you are standing several stations above someone’s head, and then you get lucky- the person comes out and you sit down.
However, if you are planning your trip 5, or better yet 25 days in advance, check out Trenitalia.com. They throw away class tickets there Super Economy You can pay by credit card. Most often (or we were lucky) the difference with the price of a standard ticket is 40%. An electronic ticket is sent to your email. It contains your last name, date and time of departure, and (attention!) places. It's not a bad idea to have a printed ticket. We had nowhere to print it, so I simply photographed it and showed it to the controller in this form. Everything went smoothly.
During peak hours, tickets can be significantly more expensive. The cheapest tickets are early in the morning.
However, we left for Nice early (at 06:07) also for the reason that the journey takes about 4 hours. Round trip is 8 hours, i.e. 1/3 day. We bought a ticket at the box office - 12.80 euros per person.
By car the same road will take about 2 hours. The train stops every 7-10 minutes, so be patient and enjoy the coastal scenery.
Now about the trip to France itself. The most common question concerns the road. So (here I will repeat what you have probably read more than once in the forums): from anywhere in Italy (in our case, Genoa) you get to Ventimiglia. Get off the train at the tiny station of this border town and buy at the ticket office ticket to Monte Carlo, Nice, Cannes, Montpellier or wherever else you want. It is better to buy tickets to France in Ventimiglia, so you do not overpay for the intermediation of the Italian railway for participation in the transaction. 
The Ventimiglia-Nice ticket cost about 5-6 euros per person. The transfer takes 40 minutes.
In Nice we walked for about 5 hours. We had lunch at KFC and went to Monaco by bus (for 1 euro; the same journey by train would cost 3.70 euros). Drive 30-40 minutes along a very beautiful highway. The bus stop (Tourist Office) is 200 meters from the Monte Carlo Casino.
It is worth saying that there are sooooo many tourists in the city. After our Italian wilderness, it seemed to me that we were in the midst of an apocalypse: cameras, Chinese, more cameras, children, aunts, Mercedes, etc.
After losing 10 euros in the slot machines, we headed towards the embankment.
And then you... for the first time, my neck hurt. Yes so much. Apparently she pulled a muscle. My massage therapist in Kyiv once told me that in such cases it is good to put something warm on the neck. But where was it... half an hour later my back, my head, in general, everything hurt (I’m listing it so that the stalemate of the situation is clear). The insurance policy, which, of course, was there, remained in the suitcase in Italy. There were also painkillers left there.
We moved away from the center in the hope of finding a pharmacy. Found, and not even one. But on Sunday in all pharmacies (and stores), as it turned out, it was s-y-h-o-d-n-o-y. I was terrified. Completely out. To be in one of the most expensive cities in Europe and not take insurance, medicines...
We boarded a bus that, as we imagined, would take us closer to the border (everything was working in Italy that day). So we arrived in Menton. Another coastal city right on the border of France.
Meanwhile, the pain dulled and went inside. It was about 17:00.
Menton made us very happy. The city turned out to be completely devoid of tourist pathos. However, just like Nice and Monaco, it seemed to us to be the owner of all the delights of the Cote d'Azur - landscape, sea, air, kilometer-long embankments. In addition, Menton is equally close to the resorts of the Ligurian and Mediterranean Seas. Here you can stop and explore almost the entire coastline of both France and Italy on forays of a day or two. And for lovers of the French avant-garde, a small bonus: the museum of the outrageous Jean Cocteau.
Around 18:30 we left for Ventimiglia to catch the last train to Genoa.
We arrived in Italy late in the evening. When I left the station, I was happy to discover that the pharmacies were still open. It was decided to have dinner at a restaurant not far from home. We were attracted by the fact that the pizza was cooked there in a large oven right in front of passing onlookers.
Since we sat down in the restaurant, coperto in the amount of 2 euros per person was immediately included in our bill, i.e. cost of instruments. This was the only time during our entire stay in Italy when we were consciously ready to overpay.
If you are not yet familiar with the topic of Italian restaurants, then in a nutshell the situation is like this. Italians earn hard money from tourists. But you, as an independent tourist, have every right not to let them dig into your pocket. 99% of restaurants (cafes, canteens are usually devoid of this type of perversion) have a fixed fee “for cutlery” (this is not a tip!) in the amount of 1.5 to 2.5 euros per person. For example, you came to have a coffee for 1.5 euros, but you will pay 3.5 euros, because you took a place at the table for a whole 20 minutes. You will learn about the availability of coperto from the menu.
In addition, the menu may notify you of a fixed servizio (tip) amount. This could be 10 or even 20% of your order, which will be included in the invoice. So, you haven’t eaten anything yet, but you already owe everyone everything.
Do you think the Italians themselves also pay according to this scheme? No matter how it is =) You can avoid coperto by ordering at the bar. There, if there are chairs, use it or take it with you. This is not at all shameful. Fixed servizio in this case is also not paid. 
It also happens that in cafes or trattorias above the bar you can see two price columns: Banco and Tavolo. Banco prices, i.e. for standing ones, on average 50% lower, but sometimes more. For example, water for Banco will cost 0.30 euros, and for Tavolo, i.e. for “sitting” it is already 1 euro.
To clear the conscience of those who are especially generous, I will say that it is not uncommon for servizio to be only available in the English version of the menu. The tips themselves usually go not to the waiter, but to the owner of the restaurant. But you shouldn’t feel sorry for anyone: waiters in Italy (except for seasonal ones) have a decent fixed income + honey. insurance + paid vacation and sick leave.
Let's return to our trip to the restaurant. We ordered one pizza for two (about 7 euros) and a carafe of young white wine (4 euros). The result was a comprehensive set a la the Kiev restaurant “Mafia” for 99 UAH. But one pizza for two in Italy is apparently equivalent to asking for one plate of borscht for a company of 5 people. We clearly disappointed the waitress with our order, and once again she did not approach us.
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