A very small survival guide to Veneto (for ignorant northerners). Vol 3 - The Rhythm

Eveliis asks:
Where can I get pizza and drinks at 1 am?

You can't.

There is a rhythm and order to doing things in Italy, and eating has the strictest rules of all. You'd better follow them if you want to play along.

You shall have breakfast from 6 am to 10:30 latest, and the breakfast will consist of coffee and pastries or cookies. No ham. You might get some yogurt if the hostel is in a good mood, but forget about savoury sandwiches - their turn comes later. It's not the time for ham sandwiches yet before 10:30. You're in Rome, so you'll eat as the Romans do.

You shall have lunch from 13:00 to 14:30 latest, probably a little later in the south than north, but it will be a nice healthy meal because at 16 everything will be closed and the most you'll be able to find will be a sandwich or ice-cream. What is this about a five-o'clock dinner? Are you foreign or what? This is not how things are done here.

You shall have dinner anytime from 19:30 to 22:00, probably later in the south than north, but the kitchen will definitely close around 23, and it's not only because it's not healthy to eat this late - it will be because all Italians know it's not and everyone will have their supper on the proper time. There's simply no demand for pizza at 1 am.

Oh, and no cappuccino after dinner. It'll ruin everything.

Now, this applies for real Italian cities where things still work the Italian way, and not the multicultural centres where there are so many tourists asking for absurd food in the middle of the night that there might actually be someone who offers. In Rome you might find pizza at 1 am, but it will be far more likely to find a kebab at 1 am, or any other kind of foreign food, because as I said, the rules are rules - everyone knows them, everyone follows them. The stereotype of rule-breaking Italians is a silly myth. There are rules that are suggestions, and then there are rules about food, dress, family and everything that is important in life that are followed with such care that they become the only way of doing things. The timing of food is one of these.

You might call it alimentary fascism - I know I did for a long time - but in reality it's a part of the culture and why the food is so good and why people around the world are trying to copy it. And - let's face it - it's also a part of the reason why you're coming to Italy.


Up next: 4. What's the deal with tipping?