Attire for dinner out in Italy

Unless you are going to be eating in a lot of Michelin starred places, you will most likely see the gamut of attire. There will be casual to dressy.

Men seemed to be in either business casual, nice slacks or khakis, nice shirt, no tie. Sometimes a jacket to dress up a bit, but rarely did we see a tie on men.

Ron is reasonably accurate. Jeans and t-shirt in a place with table cloths is inappropriate. Nothing wrong with dressing up just a bit. But a neighbor bar or local restaurant would be more casual.

Lots of Italian men just throw on a sportcoat/suit jacket over what they're wearing. We also hardly ever saw ties on men. And never ever a tie without a jacket.

We found restaurant attire in Italy to be much like it is in the US. As someone who really likes to travel light, I left my suitcoat home and generally stuck to dark neutral business casual attire. We never felt out of place. Important thing is that if you like to dress up, dress up -- it's YOUR vacation.

Terry,

I've never had a problem with "dinner attire", or been refused entry to a restaurant. From what I've seen, the greater majority of restaurants are more interested in getting business rather than what their guests are wearing.

I wear the same thing while touring in the daytime as going out for dinner. Typically this would be something like dress/casual pants and a shirt. I NEVER wear a jacket or tie (too hot, especially in Italy).

Cheers!

Dressy casual.

Unless you're traveling when it's hot, an easy way to dress up a little (especially for men) is to wear a sweater. I always take along a light-weight solid black or navy V-neck.

LOL!! Thanks to all the men who replied- I will now have no trouble helping my husband Jeff prepare for our trip! Unfortunately, due to the "unisex" nature of my name, I did not get much feedback from the women to assist me in what I should plan to wear for dinner!! :-)

Terry,

Thanks for the clarification (LOL)!!!

However, my recommendation is still the same, in that a "dress/casual" style of clothing should be fine.

You might want to have a look at some of the items at This Site. They have both men's and women's clothing items, and their clothing line is designed for travel.

Cheers!

I'll let mine stand too. Unless the place is very fancy where dressy would be the most appropriate, you can get by with just about anything.

Casual to dressy.

On women we have seen nice slacks and capris with a nice blouse to fancier dresses. My wife will usually put on a shawl or a larger scarf to dress up what she is wearing.

Thanks for the new replies! I just wanted to be sure that nothing "fancy" is required.

Terry, I always bring a neutral color skirt when I travel to Italy and then use sandals, a scarf or shawl and fancier ear rings to dress it up at night. I've never felt out of place.

The guys pretty much nailed it, even with their one-sided advice. :-)

Unless you are going someplace particularly fancy, you will be fine with slacks or a skirt and a sweater or nice shirt. I typically wore black slacks and a long-sleeved shirt or sweater (we went in November), plus a lightweight waterproof jacket, and no one gave me a second glance.

My dad primarily stayed with jeans and either sweaters or a button down shirt. No tie, no jacket. No one fussed at that either.