Cost of food per day?

It depends! Are you going to want to sit down and have a 3 course meal everyday for dinner or are you a Pizza and Panini type of person? If you stray away from the Piazzas for your meals, you will save yourself some money. Also, try not to sit down in a restaurant in the historic district. Look for the out of the way small mom and pop places on the side streets away from the hustle and bustle. You do not have to spend lots of money on food, it just depends on you. Have fun!!

We will want to mix it up with some nice meals and some quick ones. I was thinking that maybe $65 a day for all meals. Does that sound right?

Mark's right on the money with his advice, in my opinion. Is breakfast included with your hotel? $65 for how many people, two? I did it on probably about 30 euros a day most days (including at least one gelato a day! ;)), I ate a lot of pizza (just b/c it is my favorite) and pasta, rarely ordered both a primi and secondi, and I don't really drink much wine (but always got either water or soda). So if your $65 is for each of you, then that's more than enough I think, especially if you do what Mark advises and look for the small places off the piazzas. If that's total, I think that'd be very hard unless you do true street food (aka pizza by the slice for a couple euros type thing) for lunch and very casual single-course or so dinners.

$65 a day each person was what I was figuring on. I guess I should allow a little more if breakfast is not included with hotel stay.

Food is far more expensive than home, and I live in Los Angeles. I was very surprised. Wine is cheaper than sodas, and lots of food to go is priced by weight. The sandwich you admire in the window isn't 3.50 euro as advertised, it's 9 euro when weighed; then your soda is 2.50. Sitting down is more, mostly because no side dishes come with your meal automatically. Each thing you want is extra. That 20 euro steak, is just the steak. But the good side is, little food is wasted, and you rarely 'stuff yourself'. If you want to save money, take Rick's advise and skip the touristy/nice atmosphere places, and eat where the locals do.

Again, it entirely depends on what and where you choose to eat. I don't think Venice is the place for fine restaurant splurges unless you're really into seafood. I'd save my money for Bologna or Florence.

What Venice does have are great cichetti bars where you can assemble a stand-up dinner from various snacks arrayed at the counter. You can read more about those in Rick's books. Wine is incredibly inexpensive - cheaper than soda or juice. A lot of bars also have tramezzi - assorted sandwiches - for about a euro or two. Finally, as others have advised, get away from the major piazzas. If you look hard you can find restaurants that cater to the local workers. They don't have money to burn, either. So they eat at mom-and-pop places offering a few entrees at lunch. Clues to find them - look for places with no English or German signs on the windows and handwritten menus near the door.

A LOT!!! we were in Italy this summer, and it was my family of 4. We ended up spending more that 100 Euro a day on food, and we thought we would have a budget of 100 Euro a day for food. And, we only had a few really nice meals. BE AWARE of the food in Pisa... my daughter got sick from a slice of pizza we got there. Also, be VERY aware of what the charges are. We went to a restaurant for pizza on Capri, and the pizza only costed 6 Euro, but the bill was 22 Euros because of the cover and bread charges... I'm not kidding. Before you go, definitely get recommendations and read about restaurants in advance. Surprisingly, we found ourselves wondering around very hungry trying to find a good place to eat that wouldn't be touristy. I made a list, but I left it at home, which I regret, because sometimes, the whole "finding your own special place" doesn't work. Although, we did have many incredible meals by asking a local person where there is a great place to eat. but I'm telling you... DON'T rely on this.
Have a GREAT time! I would give ANYTHING to go back.

Michelle, I just checked my Excel files, and I was spending on average $65.00 per day (for one person) in Italy when I was there in April & May. Breakfast was included at all the Hotels I used, so that wasn't a problem. I varied the lunches and dinners during the trip. These were sometimes quite expensive (multi-course meal) and other times very basic (Panini and a bottle of water).

Eating CAN be very expensive if ordering the Antipasti, Primi and Secondi (and of course gratuities and other charges). One of my favourite combinations was Insalata Mista and Spaghetti Carbonara (along with a glass of Vino Rosso, of course). If you like salads, don't count on getting any Thousand Islands or other "mixed" dressings in Italy. The only choices are usually oil & vinegar!

Cheers!

I usually skimp less on food than other items, but you could probably figure about 5 euro for coffee and something (if you are smart and order at the bar), even if you have breakfast at the hotel, you have to have coffee out. Figure 10 to 15 euro for a modest lunch (Panini or Pizza) and 25 euro for a decent meal. So that is close to your $65, you can push that down to $45 on some days by forgoing wine (or at least a bottle) and antipasti; but I would just assume sleep in a hovel than miss out on the food in Italy.

Hi Michelle,

I just returned on Monday from Rome, Sorrento, and Venice. For me and my husband we spent about 75-85 Euros per day on food. Our breakfast was not included in Rome, and we spent about 5-7 Euros on espresso and a roll, Lunch was usually some type of antipasti, and typically a pizza and a pasta (we shared) and house wine. Dinner was typically the same thing. We found that after the first night, the pasta was more than enough for dinner, and we didn't order many secondi's anywhere. We also snacked on gelato probably every other day. I was nervous about the 3.5E soda, or the 9E panini, and we never experienced that. We ate at a few of the restaurants in the book, and then found the rest on our own. All the restaurants had their menu posted outside, so you could check/look throughout the day for a good place to eat that night. But, I would say your budget looks good. We budgeted about 150-175 per day, and we didn't come anywhere close to that. Have fun!

$65 a day? Maybe for royalty. Where are you guys eating?!

Like anything in this world, you can spend as little or as much as you like.

Most hotels include breakfast (although, one in Venice made me hallucinate...) so really you are only buying a light lunch and dinner.

Don't forget that you can save a bunch of money by eating from grocery stores and street markets.

Do you eat out every day at home? Think local. It saves the big bucks.

Hi Michelle,

We just got back from 2 weeks in Italy,on a bugget,and it can be done!Stay away from restaurants near tourist attractions-they are always pricey.Look for little hole in the wall places where locals go(just like Rick says!)and don't go near the little carts they have all over Rome selling pizza and sandwiches-they are ridiculously expensive and they post their price list where you can't see it.The little bars they have all over the place in every town are great places to eat,and cheap.We tried to book hotels/B&B's that had breakfast included in the price,but if not,usually a couple of hot drinks and a couple of pastries will run you about 5-6 euros,total.Luch for us was usually a sandwich or pizza,again for less than 8 euros each.We managed to eat dinner with house wine included for about 50 euros each night-even as cheap as 36 euros in Rome-2 appetisers,2 main courses and 1 1/2 litres of house wine!(now that was a FUN night!)

Have fun!
Bobbie

PS Michelle

Restaurants mostly always charge for bread,so we saved by asking them to take the bread away(it's not very good,anyway)and unless you ask for tap water,there is always a charge for water.