Dinner Dress in Rome, Florence - May

Khakis, shirt with a collar and light travel jacket or vest (if needed if weather is cool) should be fine for all but the most upscale, expensive, or formal by tradition places. A sport coat / blazer will always add a touch of class to an outfit -- nothing wrong with taking it, but can you get it in the luggage? And if so, will it be worth the extra weight for just a couple of nights?

You might get other opinions here, but, for my travel style, any restaurant that would require a sports coat is one we'd pass on. We travel light and definitely wouldn't bring a sports coat along.

He will not "need" the sport coat, but if he likes to wear one, he certainly can. However, unless he's wearing a tank top, he will be fine in restaurants in Italy without needing to "dress up."

i don't even know of restaurants in Florence where they require a sport coat. Maybe just the Enoteca Pinchiorri has a dress code (if you don't mind spending $500 for dinner). Last year I went to SESTO, the rooftop restaurant at the Excelsior hotel, one if the most pretentious places in Florence (I was invited, because I would never go to such overpriced piece of crap places in my own, since I know plenty of places that serve better food), and everybody was wearing shirts or nice Lacoste type Tshirt (it was July and hot). Any normal place will accept you with anything your husband wears. I wouldn't recommend flip flops, shorts, or tantop, but they would take you with those too (as a matter of fact I've been to several fancy restaurants in Florence wearing shorts).

I would recommend traveling lightly and opting to not bring a sports jackets. Khakis or dark pants and a nice shirt will do just fine when dining. I usually don't go to high-end restaurants when traveling and find that people are pretty casual.

Let me voice a contrarian opinion. I do not know a single restaurant in Florence having a dress code; you can really go dressed as you like. Still, I always bring with me a sports coat when I am traveling (it is not so heavy as I usually wear it during the flight). And when going out to dinner I always wear it out of respect for the lady accompanying me (my wife). - I make exception in Florence and some other places from June 15th to September 15th when it is too hot to wear anything heavier than a polo shirt. - I will always remember the words of an Indian gentlemen many, many years ago. I was on a music tour with an orchestra in Mumbai and all orchestra members were unexpectedly invited to a cocktail; it turned out that while everybody had his black tie with tails concert dress traveling with the instruments cases, only very few people had a jacket in their baggage. So most of the people went to the cocktail in very informal dresses. A few of the older Indians organizing the cocktail were mildly annoyed by this lack of respect. One of them said: "How could they leave for a foreign country without a jacket and a tie in their bag? You never know who you will be going to meet."

4 years ago (also in May) I went to both Rome and Florence and took a sport coat. I wore it on the plane so it didn't take up any room in my bag and it was nice to have a light coat for the evenings when it got chilly. That being said, there were definitely days (especially towards the end of May in Florence) that it was much too warm to wear. But that's okay, I just left it in the hotel as I was out and about. When I travel, I always dress business casual. It allows me to go just about anywhere I'd like without standing out for being too dressy. Some khakis or slacks and collared shirts are my wardrobe while travelling. This means that a single sport coat acts as your jacket. I think most travelers would take some kind of a jacket with them, why not make it a sport coat?