From the fragrant whites of the north, to the sun drenched reds of the south, Italian wine is pure pleasure on the tongue. That is as long as you know what you’re looking for.

So where to start? Let’s start where we normally start; with the ABC’s, or rather the DOCG’s DOC’s, and IGT’s. The Italian system of classifying wines can be described as a pyramid with DOCG being at the top.

• DOCG (Denomination of Origin Controlled and Guaranteed)

DOCG, Denomination of Origin Controlled and Guaranteed, was first applied in 1990. There are 33 DOCG’s in Italy, the largest amount hailing from Piedmont in the north. Each DOCG has its own rules and regulations that a producer must meet in order to get the coveted pink and green labels proclaiming its own authenticity. Pink labels for red wines, and green for white. The rules always include specifications on where the grape comes from, the soil it’s grown in and a limitation on the yield of production. They also often include rules about aging, bottling, and the wine making process. Some of my favorite DOCG wines include Barolo, Amarone, Chianti, and Chianti Classico for reds, and Gavi, and Greco di Tufo for whites. I feel I must also note that just because these wines are at the top of the pyramid does not necessarily mean they are always the most interesting, or the best of all the Italian wines. They are simply guaranteed to be produced in certain ways. I also am sad to report that does cheating takes place when it comes to the rules, numerous articles on the subject were in Italian newspapers last winter. I think it is best to look for smaller, more traditional producers if you want to be more sure.

• DOC (Denomination of Origin Controlled)

The next level down on the pyramid is DOC; Denomination of Origin Controlled. There are over 300 DOC’s throughout Italy. The rules are about the same as DOCG except slightly more relaxed and they often include larger areas. Sometimes they are extended productions of a DOCG; when a DOCG is limited in its yield the extra wine or grapes are often made into a DOC, usually the aging process is just a bit shorter and the price a little lower. Good examples of this situation are Rosso di Montalcino instead of Brunello, Rosso di Montepluciano instead of Vino Nobile, and Valpolicella instead of Amarone. I love these three wines because they give you all the characters of the DOCG’s but they are younger and easier to drink, more appropriate for a broad range of foods. You can recognize DOC wines by the words Denominazione di Origine Controllata written directly on the bottle’s label.

• IGT (Typical Geographical Indication)

The third pyramid tier is the IGT category. IGT stands for Typical Geographical Indication, and is a very loose category. IGT was first introduced in 1997 as a way of giving importance to wines that weren’t necessarily traditional to Italy. The famous Super Tuscans are now IGT’s, before they were in the Table Wine category (see below), this has promoted the innovation and creation of new interesting wines, using international grapes that aren’t allowed in the DOCG, and DOC categories. The results of these wines have been varied. Some are the most expensive wines in Italy such as the famous Tignanello and Sassicaia from the Bolgheri region of Tuscany, but many are cheap wines a step up from the bottom of the heap; good for every day drinking. An IGT wine will say IGT on the label.

• Table wine

The bottom of the pyramid is the Vino di Tavolo, or Table wine. These are wines produced in bulk specifically for the everyday needs of Italian wine drinkers. They are the house wines of trattoria’s, and the large bottled wines in the markets. They are cheap, and easy to drink. Sometimes they are good, sometimes bad, and usually you can’t be sure of where or when they came from. The bottle’s label only needs to say the region it was bottled in, the amount of alcohol, “do not litter”, and the amount of wine in the bottle. No vintage necessary. Drink these wines with low expectations, though it is possible you may stumble upon something spectacular.

There is no way to know without doing the dirty little job of drinking!

Photo of Italian wine bottles by Fiona Lapham

I’ve been living in Tuscany, Italy, for a few years now and one of the habits that I have had picked up is the art of coffee drinking.

This may sound simple but as I have found out coffee is no laughing matter when it comes to Italian’s. The way we might say “Would you like to get a drink together?” when you meet an old friend on the street, an Italian would say “Shall we take a coffee together?” All day at work Italian’s spend their time working between espressos and no one shall take that time away from them. I worked with a chef who exactly at 10:30 every morning (just before service) would stop whatever he was doing, even if it wasn’t finished, and go across the street for his second espresso of the day.

In this way I often build up to four or five espresso’s a day. I can get a bit jumpy, but I am on the low side of the coffee drinkers of Italy. Once, while doing a tasting for school I had to drink 5 espressos in an hour. I shook and bounced for the rest of the day feeling like caffeine had been injected straight into my veins. The teacher who gave the demonstration was on his second class of the day. It was his 12th espresso when it was my 5th. He didn’t even bat an eye, though it may have twitched slightly.

Picking a style

Each Italian has his or her own special way of drinking a coffee.

Macchiato: espresso with a splash of milk

Caffè corto: short espresso

Caffè lungo: long espresso

Cappuccino: espresso with steamed milk over top

There is even caffè Americano, you guessed it…watered down espresso.

With sugar, sweetener, or just amaro; black, everything is a decision, a style, part of who you are.

Picking a signature way to drink your coffee is an essential part of jumping into Italian culture. People will remember these things about you.

My husband’s grandmother doesn’t give me a spoon after dinner when it is time for coffee. “You drink yours black,” she says, “so you don’t need a spoon”. Well, alright I think, Heavens forbid I should change my mind for a cup and decide to have a little sugar. I hadn’t been sleeping well after a trip back from the states so I refused a cup of espresso one night after dinner. She starred at me and asked if I was alright? She asked me if I was alright five times before the night was over. “But you always drink coffee.”

Execution

There are a few rules that should be followed if you want to drink your coffee without sticking out like a tourist who doesn’t know his or her coffee edict.

1. Always say ciao, or buongiorno (or buona sera if it is after 2pm) when you enter a coffee shop. Always say ciao and grazie, in that order, to all of the employees when you leave.
2. Stand at the bar and drink your coffee as fast as possible even if it means creating burn blisters in your throat. It is impolite to sip. Most guide books suggestion you stand at the bars as a way to avoid the table charge, but table charges are not generally high (a euro or two…usually less than a tip would be), and you can sit at a table if you feel like it. But, if you want the true Italian style stand at the bar and chug your coffee.
3. If you, by some fluke, finish your coffee before anyone else you are with; pay for your coffee and theirs while they are finishing up. Even if they argue, you must insist for some reason or another that it is your time to pay. My husband loves to do this as I stand at the bar trying to choke down the bubbling hot liquid feeling more panicked every second now that he has drunk his coffee, paid, and is quietly waiting for me by the door having already said all of his “ciao grazie’s”. Everyone in the bar looks at me like I have three heads. What? It’s hot. I am building tolerance though, and one of these days I’m going to pay.
4. Never, under any circumstances order a cappuccino after 11:00am, and most positively never after dinner. Cappucino has milk, and is therefore considered a breakfast food. It is strange to eat breakfast food after dinner. If you simply cannot go without the milk have a macchiato, just a splash of milk to easy the pain.
5. Never pay more than eighty cents for an espresso. If it costs more switch bars, there is one every three feet so you should be able to find one, and if you can’t find one than switch towns. Coffee is best when it is cheap, strong, and in your own signature style.

Want to drink excellent Italian coffee on your next holiday? Here is a selection of hotels in Italy recommended by Venere’s users for a breakfast coffee:

• Hotel del Giannicolo, Rome

• Hotel Plebiscito Due, Naples

• Hotel Roma, Venezia Mestre

• Hotel California, Positano

• Hotel La Bussola, Amalfi

Photo mosaic of Italian coffee originally posted by Latente | A pocket full of unexposed film

Let’s face it; it is a rare thing when traveling not to find yourself eating next to people who are speaking in your language or many other languages, just not the one native to the country you are visiting. It can often be frustrating and disappointing.

After all, a holiday in Italy isn’t for the hours of waiting in line to see the requisite works of art. It’s about the food. So where is the good stuff? Sometimes it seems that the Italian’s have hidden their best restaurants, keeping them secret from the never ending parade of tourists. And, tourist-Italian just never quite arrives at the splendor of Italian-Italian.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many good restaurants out there filled with tourists that are quite delicious, but being in in Rome, Florence, Naples, Venice or Milan, is also about the Italian lifestyle. So, how can you find a restaurant that really is that ever elusive authentic Italian, complete with real Italians?

What not to do

• First of all, don’t use your guide book. Even guide books that claim to be behind the scenes will lead you to the same places that they have lead others. The small, out of the way, restaurant with such flair may have once been “off the beaten path”, but all of the thousands of people carrying the same guide book you have will probably have changed that.

• Secondly, don’t ask your hotel, guide, taxi driver, or anyone who says “tell them I sent you”. In Italy everything is based on connections, especially when it comes to making money. This means that almost every hotel has a specific few restaurants that pay them to send them customers. They can often be quite lousy choices, seeing as how they need to pay for clients.

• Lastly, stay away from piazzas, major streets, and museum areas. It may be tempting to grab a seat in a beautiful square where you can sit outside and people watch or gaze at flocks of pigeons, but the piazza restaurants run quick and easy menu’s, over charge, and are probably so tired of being harassed that the waiters are rude.

What to do

• Explore. Do it yourself. Just hunt around, use your imagination, read menus, go down back alleys (not by yourself), and pick something based on your instincts. The best way to do this is earlier in the day. If you know you want to go to dinner leave yourself some time in the afternoon to discover the perfect choice for the evening, that way you won’t be rushed, and you won’t be hungry enough to settle on the first place you find. Then you can dress, relax, and be ready for your evening’s chosen spot.

• If you are going to explore on your own, look for places that don’t advertise in other languages outside of the establishment. If you discover they have a menu in English don’t panic, this is very common and can be expected in even the remotest of Italian eateries. Do panic if they have a laminated book of a menu offering every language choice from here to Timbuktu. This means they probably have more that a little experience in tourism.

• If you are going to ask someone for a recommendation try to pick a person who is native to the town, and who is unbiased. Someone who was friendly and helpful in a store, a barista who has time to talk, or maybe a friend you meet along the way. Almost all Italians take there food seriously and will probably point you in the right direction as long as they aren’t looking to make a euro off of it.

• The last piece of advice I can give is to just get out. Get out of the cities, get out of the tourist areas, move away from the crowd. If you have a car drive into the country until you see a restaurant with cars, motorcycles or scooters outside, no cars means in isn’t popular with Italians either. Have fun, enjoy, discover for yourself the best hidden secrets in Italy. Just don’t tell anyone when you do.

Photo of restaurant terrace in Rome originally posted by scalleja