When you order a latte at any American Starbucks, you know what to expect: warm milk with a shot of espresso, topped with creamy foam. Walk into an Italian corner café, order a latte. Surprise! Returned is a glass of steaming milk. Here’s an important fact for Americans traveling in Italy: latte is Italian for milk.
What you really want is a café latte. Perhaps an espresso, or double espresso? Some hot tea or a cappuccino…sometimes called a cappuco (pronounced cap-PEW-cho) in rural areas. All this sounds familiar, and it will be. Yet there are options you’ve never had at Starbucks: café machiatto, latte machiatto, café americano, café hog, ciacolatta calda. Café machiatto is an espresso with a small amount of milk and froth added; still served in an espresso cup. Latte machiatto is similar to the café latte; however, it has considerably less espresso added. Café americano is the Italian version of our coffee; usually served in a teacup. If you prefer decaffeinated, then you’ll order the café hog. Ciacolatta calda is hot chocolate; you’ll need a spoon though, because most of the time it’s like rich pudding.
A true treasure of the café is the juice; sounds mundane until your order arrives as a glass of thick, colorful, sweet liquid. The choices vary, including banana, strawberry, apricot, and peach juice. You can also find these in oversized ‘juice boxes’ in the Italian grocery store. I highly recommend purchasing some for your hotel room.
If you ask for a glass of water in Italy, a bottle of slightly overpriced water will be brought to your table--it will probably be carbonated. For some reason, carbonated water is very popular in Italy. If it’s not to your liking, make sure there are no carbonated bubbles when purchasing bottled water. You can ask for l’aqua di rubinatto; tap water. I’d like to say in most places, tap water is safe to drink. Use common sense, though: if it’s cloudy, don’t drink it.
When walking into some of the larger café’s, you may find something else uncommon in Starbucks; alcohol. A café latte, latte machiatto, or café americano can be enhanced with a shot of amaretto or Bailey’s Irish Whiskey. In the summer, you may have the chance to order a limoncello--fermented lemonade. This particular drink was specialized in the south and migrated north.
Most every town has its own regional wine offered in either the café’s or restaurants. Try it; even the cheapest wine tastes good. Most local wines are not exported; not even to neighboring regions. If you are traveling in more than one location, I strongly urge you to sample local chiantis or house wines when eating out.
Which brings us to dessert wines. The names of such wines escape me; I didn’t like drinking something that tastes like fermented maple syrup. There is a better choice: spumante. This particular wine is like champagne in sparkling and color; it differs in taste. Whereas champagne (which is also available) is bitter, spumante is sweet. Once again, even the cheapest spumante is superior to what you may purchase in the states.
Italians do so many drinks well, why venture into beer? Yet they did; Peroni is the most recognized Italian brand. It’s no surprise that most beers on tap are of different nationalities. I found Fosters, Becks, and Heineken to be the most common choices.
Nocturnal ventures will find you at discotheques or bars that have beers, and a variety of mixed drinks, including: white Russian, sangria, mint juleps, and grasshoppers. One served tequila boom-boom: a shot glass of tequila with a squirt of carbonated water; the bartender covered top with hand, slammed glass twice; boom-boom. I cannot recommend a Screwdriver; the single time I ordered one, the bartender filled the glass three-quarters full of vodka, and topped it off with orange juice. After reaching the bottom of the glass, I decided it’d be in the best interest of my liver not to do further research on mixed drinks.
Which directs us to the Italian drink that will complete your traveling experience: grappa. Grappa is made from the remaining scraps of grape from a wine-pressing. What is formed is a highly concentrated clear liquid that could possibly be an alternative fuel source. After one sip, you’ll understand why it is served in such a tiny glass; it causes burning throat, watery eyes, and clears your sinuses. After the first glass, you may share the Italian belief that it cleanses the system. Trust me; you will never get drunk off grappa. It may even sober you up…which could explain why it is the last drink of the day.