I travelled to Rome, Amalfi Coast, Tuscany, Venice and Sicily on my recent visit to Italy in September and October. Over my 5 week stay, my travelling companion and I spent, on average, 40 euro between us when eating out for lunch or dinner.
We ate only in local trattoria (no fine dining experiences or Michelin Star restaurants), and normally ordered
- a pasta or main each
- a salad to share
- a large bottle of water to share
- a quarter or half litre of house wine to share (which in most cases was very enjoyable)
- a dessert to share
and more often than not the bill came to just under 40 euro, 20 euro per person – we would then normally round up the bill to leave a small tip.
Of course we sometimes splurged a little and had a dessert each, or if we were starving after a big day of sightseeing we may have had a pasta and a main each, or we had to order a second bottle of water (the weather was unseasonally hot during our visit – click here to read our blog entry for more details on travelling in Italy in Autumn), which meant the price was closer to 50 euro for the two of us.
A note on tipping:
Tipping is certainly not compulsory in Italy, although if the service and food has been good you may choose to. That said, you may see written on some menus that service isn’t included and in that case you should tip as much as the service warrants based on your dining experience.
We hope this helps with your trip planning and budgeting. When you become a Passion For Italy client we provide you with travel guides and restaurant information for all the destinations you are visiting.
