Butter and half and half

Restaurants will generally provide butter on request, but keep in mind that butter in Italy is unsalted. The bread is so fresh and delicious that you don't really need butter (or olive oil), so give the bread a try before deciding whether to ask for butter (or olive oil).

You are likely to see butter only at breakfast time, e.g. on a hotel buffet. It is not common to have with your bread at other meals and even olive oil is around more often to dress a salad or certain soups than for the bread. I would not ask for it. There are regional differences, too, with more butter used toward the mountainous north. You can probably find a thread around here from last week in which a similar topic mentioned using your bread just to help with sauces on your actual first or second courses.

If you're ordering an espresso-based coffee in a bar, I'd only expect them to use milk to prepare the beverage for you. Again a hotel breakfast can be a different story, with drip coffee more common and often mini-packs of ultra pasteurized coffee milk of some sort.

Try something different and try to enjoy what you find among locally available options.

I've yet to see half and half. I have bought heavy cream like one would make whipped cream with. Instead I just visit the local liquor store and buy a hefty sized bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream. Tastes better than half and half and I always start my day with a smile. Of course that is assuming that you drink alcohol. If not, hunt down the cream, little creamer cups, or settle for plain milk.

And unless you are visiting Milan you won't find Starbucks either.

Italian coffee is so MUCH better.

But Starbucks in Milano is very different from Starbucks in LA or Seattle.

I bought half and half in a supermarket in Rome. Of course it wasn't called half and half. It was amongst the plethora of milk choices. Since it was local and our Italian is minimal it took sometime for the gentleman who worked at the supermarket to figure out what we wanted. I had the same flavor & creaminess in my coffee. Now whether you can find it in a restaurant, I don't know.

Skip the butter and the Half and Half! A friend complained that she was charged extra when she asked for butter in Italy. No butter is needed with their bread.

I know tastes differ and there is no right or wrong, but I am compelled to make a couple of comments.

1- Why ruin an espresso by polluting it?

2- I cannot recall wanting butter for anything. The bread there is like a fine scotch/whisky. Eat it 'neat'

You can probably find a thread around here from last week in which a
similar topic mentioned using your bread just to help with sauces on
your actual first or second courses.

I think Laura has it right. Aside from bruschetta, bread is not really a 'starter' to be eaten with butter or olive oil. It may not even appear until shortly before or as your meal is delivered. It's for mopping up the sauce from your entree with no condiment needed. You could ask for butter/oil but I wouldn't.

But some restaurants that cater to tourists might produce one or the other if they've had a lot of requests for them.

Yep, who needs butter! My new find in Ljubljana was Pumpkin Seed Oil. AKA "Liquid Gold." Bread dipped in this oil was heavenly.

I have yet to find half and half anywhere in Europe but it may be "hidden" in some supermarkets here and there. Never in a cafe.

Butter is available but may I make a suggestion. Try going without it except at breakfast. Try to experience the way the locals eat. And they don't put butter on bread outside of breakfast. They also don't dip their bread in olive oil except during the harvests in October.

Half and half is PANNA DA CAFFÈ
I think it is mostly sold in small individual containers.
It’s not really an Italian tradition, but it has come to Italy from the north.

Thank you all. I can go without butter but need half and half with coffee. Will look at store for panna da caffe in store and bring with me. Love the bailey's idea even better though!

Panna da Caffee is available in non-refrigerated individual containers in many Italian supermarkets. It's usually in the non-refrigerated milk section. (Look for Parma milk.) It's not the same as U.S. half and half as the fat content is a little less. But it is closer to half and half than it is to milk. I usually buy a few packs while it Italy since most hotel rooms don't have kettles or refrigerators.

It may look something like this:

https://www.meggle.it/img/foodservice/panna/panna_da_caffe/thumbnail.png

or this

http://www.stuffer.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/11850-STUFFER-PANNA-PER-CAFFE-10X10g-1.png

Cafe's may not have it for their coffee. But you can ask.

Good luck finding American-style coffee for your half&half.
I recently traveled to France with a friend who found french coffee too strong, and switched to tea or hot chocolate. Italian coffee culture is teeny cups of strong espresso, and it's delicious.

good point Liz. Even if you ask for a "cafe Americano", its more often an espresso in a cup with added hot water. Unless of course you frequent touristy places.

Italian coffee culture is teeny cups of strong espresso, and it's
delicious.

It's also cappuccinos, macchiatos and other varieties. Italian cappuccino (my personal fave) is delicious as well, and the steamed, frothy milk cuts the strength of the coffee for this girl's tender stomach. Oh, and a good barista will make that foam a lovely little work of art besides!

Of course.
I was referring to the coffee portion of the drink. My personal favorite is a macchiato.

Although Italians frown on cappuccino after 11am, I'm sure plenty have been prepared for people requesting them at any hour.

Bread etiquette in Italy:

http://www.elizabethminchilli.com/2017/10/10-rules-eating-bread-italy/

If you do use it to sop up extra sauce, just dip a bit and eat that before dipping again. Do not wipe your plate or pasta bowl with it!

Even young George Washington knew this; it is #94 in his "Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation" ( there are 110 in all).

https://managers.usc.edu/files/2015/05/George-Washingtons-Rules.pdf

Love those links, Lola.
Whatever it says about Italy is true in France, too. But we do sop up and clean the plate with the bread in France, except in a fancy restaurant. If it's a very nice restaurant, spear the small bite-size piece of bread with your fork and then sop up and clean your plate; ie, use a fork, not your fingers to hold the bite-size of bread. If it's a Michelin restaurant, chances are you won't be served bread, nor have enough sauce for a sop. Whatever you do, avoid this: https://www.twincities.com/2018/12/23/dear-abby-dec-23/

One little thing though: I found the bread in the north of Italy very bland, so bland that I emailed Zoe to ask what was up with the bread in the culinary capital of Bologna. She told me that's how it was--(and get over it) but now from Lola's article, I see that it has less salt than French bread. Therefore, following the rules in Lola's first article and your bland bread will be enhanced with cold cuts, sauces, cheese....

Tuscan bread has no salt at all! There is a story behind that somewhere; I will see if I can find it.

But speaking of bread, the Princi bakery in Milan has the best bread in Italy. Their focaccia is light as a cloud and so tasty (we had it topped with cheese so even if it lacks salt there was enough in the cheese). We had dinner, breakfast and lunch all from Princi (take-out) when we were in Milan.

And now there is one in Seattle, courtesy of Starbucks. They import their flour from Italy to get it right. I give up my gluten-free diet for a bit of focaccia at Princi.

Although Italians frown on cappuccino after 11am, I'm sure plenty have
been prepared for people requesting them at any hour.

Pish. We've thrown that out the window. If you can eat gelato (dairy) any time of the day, you can have coffee with milk. We've done so many, many times and have yet to have a barista or waiter faint dead away or even given us the hairy eyeball. Breaking whatever is left of that rule is preferable to not shredding the heck out of my stomach.

So yep, we've had cappuccinos in the afternoon and enjoyed the heck out of them PLUS used the facilities - another good excuse for a stop - without issue.

Ok, my favorite Italian custom: Don't throw away any leftover bread! Make Panzanella Salad- my favorite summertime salad made with wonderful fresh tomatoes!

So yep, we've had cappuccinos in the afternoon and enjoyed the heck out of them

Good for you, but from the barista point of view is like entering an US café at 4 pm and ask for a bowl of cheerios with pancakes and orange juice.
Two hours before dinner time, like 11 am is 2 hours before lunch time. They don't frown upon anymore because they have accepted the idea that foreigners are always digesting something, even when it's unbearably hot out of the bar.

Incidentally, rules 3 and 4 on Minchilli's piece are wrong. And nobody cares if you order a fried starter after your pizza, but do not expect the men making pizza for your table to love you.

I guess Stanly Tucci's Big Night created the legend about starch, but note that in the italian dubbed version of that movie the two brothers do not speak about starch at all. Otherwise no Italian viewer would have understood what they were complaining about. In southern Italy bread crumbs on pasta were nicknamed "the peasants' Parmigiano". Imagine Minchilli saying them: "I know you are starving, but Italians do not eat starch with starch". The moment My grandmother had learnt what starch is, she would have started laughing.

@Dario- I need to watch that movie, the clip was hysterical! 🤣🤣🤣