The Italian bar is a cultural institution, a place where people socialize, have business meetings or a romantic date, watch a “calcio” match on TV or simply have a quick espresso for resetting their mind. Let’s see what people drink and eat during the day inside a typical Italian bar.<\/p>\n
Most Italian bars open between 5 and 6am, when people wake up and commute to work. The Italian breakfast isn’t as rich as the British or American one. At home, people usually have a caff\u00e8 latte,<\/em> a simple coffee and milk in a bowl, with biscuits or fette biscottate, <\/em>sliced toasted bread with jam or honey. In any Italian bar, you see customers lining at the counter or “al banco”<\/em>, having a cappuccino e brioche,<\/em> a simple cappuccino with a pastry. If you want an orange juice, you may want to try the spremuta d’arancia<\/em>, freshly squeezed oranges. Some people take it easy and sit “al tavolo”<\/em>, at the table, reading the daily newspaper, il quotidiano<\/em>. The Italian breakfast though is usually fast.<\/p>\n There are few different types of pastry, but the most common one is the croissant. In northern Italy we use the French word brioche <\/em>and in central-southern Italy we call it cornetto,<\/em> from the word corna, <\/em>horns. It can be filled with cream, cornetto alla crema,<\/em> jam, cornetto alla marmellata<\/em>, or chocolate, cornetto al cioccolato<\/em>. The colazione<\/em> goes on until 10, when the last few people have breakfast at the Italian bar before heading to the office.<\/p>\n Then many Italians take a break in the middle of the morning for the so called pausa caff\u00e8,<\/em> coffee break. In every city it is common to see people dressed in suits or groups of workers having an espresso, in Italian simply called caff\u00e8<\/em>. After 11, having a cappuccino is considered unusual, because it’s really a breakfast drink. The morning rhythm of an Italian bar is fast: people order at the counter, drink in two minutes and leave a coin on the saucer. If you are just starting Italian, our guide to the Italian alphabet<\/a> is a good first step before ordering at the bar.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course you can have lunch in any Italian bar. There are two main categories of bars serving lunch. If you want to practice the language of restaurants and ordering, see also our guide on eating out in Italian<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tavola fredda <\/em>literally “cold table”, is a bar serving only cold food like panini, <\/em>the famous Italian sandwiches, affettati <\/em>Italian cured meats like prosciutto and salame; insalata <\/em>the Italian salads, including insalata di riso<\/em> and insalata di pasta,<\/em> cold pasta and rice with pickled vegetables, tuna and other ingredients. Tavola fredda<\/em> is a good place in summertime, for a fresh and quick meal.<\/p>\n Tavola calda,<\/em> “hot table”, is a bar serving some hot food, in addition to cold dishes normally available at lunch, mainly primi piatti<\/em> like pasta, risotto, lasagne, parmigiana di melanzane<\/em> etc. A tavola calda<\/em> bar is usually bigger than a tavola fredda,<\/em> because they have a small kitchen, but it’s still a bar. So, the food you get in a tavola calda<\/em> is good for a quick lunch, but normally not as good as a trattoria<\/em> or an osteria,<\/em> typical small local restaurants. This is not a rule of course. You can find good Italian bars and bad trattorias.<\/p>\n Both tavola calda<\/em> and fredda<\/em> usually propose a men\u00f9 fisso<\/em>, a fixed price menu with a dish or two, with coperto<\/em> (bread and service), bevande<\/em> (drinks) and a coffee. Tutto incluso!<\/em> All included.<\/p>\n After lunch, it is always time for a caff\u00e8<\/em>. That’s important if you want to have a productive afternoon! <\/em><\/p>\n After lunch, barmen, i baristi, <\/em>get ready for the afternoon and evening drinks, l’aperitivo.<\/p>\nUse the spacebar for pausing the audio<\/h2>\n
BREAKFAST – COLAZIONE<\/strong> <\/h2>\n
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Noon to 6pm<\/strong><\/h2>\n
LUNCH – PRANZO<\/strong><\/h2>\n