Cultural Question - Do restaurants do take out?

It has been some time since I was in Bolzano, but I recall some great street food in the market in a piazza there. And the bakeries--Mohnstrudel ( poppy seed strudel) to dream of. I am pretty sure you can find enough to make a nice lunch on the train without ordering take-out from a restaurant.

It's not very common. You can order take out from pizzerias or kebab places, maybe some burger places but that's it.

You could go to a supermarket a pick up some cheese, salumi and bread and make some sandwiches, or something like that.

I don't know what you had in mind, if it was pizza then no problem.

You can absolutely put together a great picnic meal, but I would not order from a sit-down restaurant. In addition to buying prepared foods at a supermarket, there are take-away places that offer several choices in the quantities that you want. Add some wine, cheese, fresh fruit and/or pastry and you will feast like many locals do on a longish train ride.

Lola, mr and zoe!

THANK YOU! great inputs. I didn't think take out was an option, but didn't want to assume anything.

We'll grab some meats and cheeses and of course, a baked good for desert. thanks!

Melissa

Delis will happily construct the panino of your dreams.

I always travel with a supply of ziploc bags, paper plates, cutlery, a small sharp knife for cheese & fruit, wine glasses (glass), and cloth napkins. We love picnics - we generally have several long train rides each trip so having a few supplies is worth it to me.

Melissa, my husband and I were just in Italy earlier this month. We had two train trips. Before both, we actually found "fast food" places and ate quick lunches. In Venice, we ate pizza and calzones at a pizza-by-the-slice place before our train, and in Pisa, we ate some spinach turnovers (I'm sure there is a better name for them!) before our Pisa-Rome train trip.

You would be able to get food quickly without a wait (and still really delicious; the best pizza we had the whole trip was from a fast food place) at little restaurants like this instead of asking a sit-down restaurant to prepare a meal to go.

There are places - mostly sandwich shops - that advertise "Take Away." Generally on a outdoor sign. In all of our years of travel I have never seen anyone taking pre-ordered, prepared food from a restaurant in a bag. Even doggie bags are not common.

Christi, I love that you enjoy your wine in a glass! It's true that it just doesn't taste as good in plastic, but most of us are too lazy to make the extra effort. If you were sitting across from me on a train enjoying your repast with your glasses of wine, I would have to give you the stink eye out of jealousy!! Excellent planning.

Does a glass bottle count? Sometimes we just pass the bottle around.

Take-out is still so uncommon that I was shocked to see people picking up pizza in a box!

Large train stations always seem to have take-out options, though the selection may be more limited in Italy than in, say, Germany.

I say confine carry out to delis, outdoor farmer markets, traveling festivals, supermercato, and smaller grocers and other stores that specialize in putting food in bags and handing it to you. That's a sure thing!

It's called PORTA VIA (vee ah), and a very common practice at the above listed merchants. But Not necessarily at sit-down restaurants.

Now I have seen locals in small towns go into a restaurant, walk straight to the kitchen, and carry out food in large covered tins, but when I said the magic words after a sit-down meal at the same place, the waittress thought I told her to throw away the leftovers, and that's exactly what she did!

I've Not seen the big tin carry out in cities, but, who knows, it may occur, maybe by a side door or back door! It doesn't hurt to ask, only I would say "POSSO PORTARE VIA?" So I'm asking may I? Is it possible? Can I do this?

Tyrolean bakeries have outstanding cakes, and probably you can assemble a simple lunch on your own from supermarkets and bakeries.

You will probably have to switch trains in San Candido, that has a small restaurant at the station (with less than stellar reports on tripadvisor). Probably you have luggage and it is a pity you can't leave it at the station, as San Candido is a small pretty village, home to one of the largest cured pork factories in Italy and probably you could get something interesting to eat there.

You all are amazing and very entertaining! Thank you all! I'll be picking up my own wine glass! ;)

It's called PORTA VIA (vee ah), and a very common practice at the above listed merchants. But Not necessarily at sit-down restaurants.
Now I have seen locals in small towns go into a restaurant, walk straight to the kitchen, and carry out food in large covered tins, but when I said the magic words after a sit-down meal at the same place, the waittress thought I told her to throw away the leftovers, and that's exactly what she did!

"Porta via" means "bring it away!", so she did exactly what you asked.

Saying "porta via!" would be quite unpolite for 2 reasons: you'd be using an imperative verb without adding "please" or "thanks". The second reason is that you'd be speaking with a complete stranger using the informal you (tu) instead of the formal one (lei). Even if It is acceptable by a foreign tourist that's so nice to speak a little italian, the mix of both things wouldn't be the best way to make new friends at a restaurant.

All italians younger than 50 know what "take away" means. The italian translation for "take away" is either "da portare via" or "da asporto". Both are a little old fashioned, next time I'd just point to the leftovers and say: "Take away? Si?".

Most mom&pop restaurants would be happy to forget HCCP rules and do take out for you, the problem from their point of view is getting their tins back. Locals will chime in sooner or later, but a tourist?

Thanks for the tip Dario, i will definitely add "da" to the phrase if that helps. I must say though that "porta" is third person formal in present tense conjugation:

Io porto
Tu porti
Lui/Lei porta
Noi portiamo
Voi portate
Loro portano

And I'm sure that I added "per favore" to my request. Besides I always tipped this waitress handsomely which she appreciated, so she wasn't mad at me or anything, she said she never heard of "porta via" and didn't know it meant that I wanted to take away the leftovers. It could be I was missing the "da."

I learned "porta via" in Florence. A deli owner around the corner from the Istituto di Michelangelo instructed all of us students to say "porta via" for take away. He was very clear about it, and so we all did as he said. He never said to say "da." But then Florence is a student town, maybe it works there and no place else.

The waitress who didn't understand me worked in Amaseno my hometown and studied in Rome, she said she never heard of it in Rome. I still think that if I say "posso portare via," that will give me an advantage. But I ask for take away very sparingly now, only when I'm sure I'm in a store specializing in bagging food!

In Florence they would say "a portar via" or "portar via" (to be taken away), maybe you were deceived by a thick local accent and you could not hear the "a" and the "r/re"?

"Porta" (to bring, to carry as a verb but also a door as a noun) is both the Third person of the simple present "[lui/lei] porta" (he/she brings) and the second person of the imperative "[tu] porta" (you bring!).

Adding an " s " here and there is not a bad idea after all.

"Porta" followed by "via" (away) can be understood only as an imperative form and translated as I wrote above.

I hope the OP will forgive us for Hijacking the thread with a grammar lesson.

There are many places that specialize in take out only -- e.g. roast chickens or similar. We have purchased a meal of a chicken and fried squash blossoms and potatoes from such a place in Florence. These are little shops specifically for this purpose. Butcher shops and deli types places also have take out foods. There are some restaurants that do neighborhood take out, but it is hard to know which they are. We ate in a great place in Oltrarno in Florence that had fabulous food and did a lively take out trade to residents of the local neighborhood. It was one of the few places we have been that had take out supplies, so I was able to take my own leftovers home to the apartment which is generally not possible in Italian restaurants.

Love the Italian grammar lesson!

In Bolzano, where the OP will be, they may find German more useful than Italian.

My suggestion is bring a cold lunch so you do not smell up the entire train car with hot food odors. Any supermarket, deli or street market will have what you need for a delicious lunch of meats, cheeses, fruit, nuts and bread. Enjoy your trip