Buying wine by the bottle in Italy

and do not finish it,

Hilarious.

But you bought it you can take it. Just not sure it ever happens.

Yes it's normal - I've ordered a bottle at lunch, and take the remainder with me for the afternoon on a bench in the park. Even more stylish is to borrow a bike from your lodging that has a wire rack or basket so you can drop the bottle in it.

Even more common for the many American college students in Florence is to take it with them and drink from the flask while walking (unsteadily) and slurring loud words.

OK, serious answer.
Yes, you can take the bottle with you.
Also you can buy house wine by the carafe, 1/2 litre or one litre if you have a thirst on you. You can’t take that with you.

And the house wine is generally pretty darn good.

Easy Roberto. Those are probably Brits anyway. (c;

Those are probably Brits anyway. (c;

When it comes to the Brits, the stereotype is not about young drunk males. It's more about bashful middle-aged ladies going wild in the countryside. Those are the worst, totally out of control.
You can Blame Mr. Forster for that.

Thanks to those who did not make fun of me and gave me a serious answer. I just wanted to check if it was acceptable to take some back to the hotel for a nightcap later. We are an American senior couple.

If it helps, yes, any partial bottle you can take with you. My take is though, you should sit and enjoy it as long as you like, no one will try to "move you along" for the table turnover. To be honest, few local patrons would ever come into the situation of having to take wine home. If you simply do not drink that much, there are many wines available by the glass, and virtually every Italian restaurant I have been to has a house wine (usually very good) available by 250 ml, 500 ml, or a bottle. It has come handy since I prefer a red, and my wife only drinks white. "Open container" laws like you see in the US are basically unknown in Europe (though there may be bans on drinking in certain areas), so no problem getting back to the hotel.

carol, if it helps, I don’t think anyone meant to be making fun of you - more just making jokes about wine consumption in general. Sometimes the forum gets a little dull and everyone “goes a little crazy in the countryside”. :) I would have needed to ask the same question since I travel solo and simply would not drink a bottle. I usually just order the house wine by the glass, but sometimes you just might want one that isn’t sold that way.,

I have even experienced a restaurant in Rome, where the owner/waiter offered to keep it for the next time I visited them. I did that two days later and the bottle was just placed on my table without me even asking.

@Paul - Red and white, yes - we call that a "mixed marriage."