eating cheap in Rome, Venice, CT

Miscellanea in Rome was a handy location, very reasonable.

Relax, I have been traveling in Italy for 30 years and I've never had a bad meal. Plus, I never ate at the temples of gastronomy. Just wander around and you will find the places where the locals eat. Avoid the restaurants in the touristy areas if you can. Look on side streets or in quiet piazzas. Look for diners speaking Italian instead of English.

I did find a great place in RS's guide called Target on Via Torino off of Via Nazionale just down from Piazza Repubblica. They make a fabulous antipasto which consists on Beasola stuffed with robiola cheese on a bed of arugula and orange slices in a citrus vinaigrette. Honestly, Italy is a great place to eat almost anywhere.

Buon viaggio,

RB

I have found that eating in Italy is not that much more expensive than at home, if you stay away from the heavily touristed areas. Try to go off the beaten path to get authentic local food at a good price. In Rome, Trastevere has a huge number of neighborhood restaurants that are reasonably priced. If you see a line forming outside a restaurant, get in line (you may need reservations). Of course, if you are looking at a high-end restaurant, expect a big price. Stay out of Harry's Bar in Venice. What an incredibly expensive tourist trap. Merriam-Webster Dictionary....Tourist Trap; see also Harry's Bar.

I have long intended to start a post about eating cheaply, but well, in Italy; especially in Venice. I won't try to do that here, but Venice can be quite inexpensive and allow you to try new things. The trick is to go to cicchetti bars inn the evening. Rick's book describes them in his "Venice pub crawl" section. They're scattered around the city and range from musty dives to quite trendy decor. In each, there is a display of snack-size portions of various seafood, vegetable and meat dishes. They're usually very inexpensive and you can make a meal for 10 Euro or so. One place we tried had a strawberry crab dish that was amazing. So you can't say you're missing out on a gourmet experience.

Also, many bars feature tremezzi during the day - sandwich halves with the crusts cut off. Each for a euro or so. I love tuna and egg. I'm not wild about seafood which is what Venice's cuisine is based upon, so I don't care about eating in restaurants in Venice. But I have stumbled on local restaurants who serve the working class of Venice at lunch - the are the people who typically commute in. These will have two or three menu items on the board and they'll run out after about 1:00 in the afternoon.

OK, so I did start my post. But, finally, you can drink wine inexpensively at many places in Venice - and in other towns in Italy and France - by buying wholesale. Bars and wine shops that have many varieties stored in barrels and will fill your liter-sized bottle for a couple of euros. Have fun!

Look for the menus posted outside the restaurants. Most will have them posted. If the menu is in multiple languages other than Italian - skip it. I never remember names of where we eat - I'll have to start a log this year!

We have had one bad meal in Italy. Overdone fish in Monterosa in the CT.

Just wander and find those hidden gems!

I love that there were four posts while I was composing mine! This is a great question. Discuss!

For reasonably priced food try to find Rosticcerias, basically hot food take-out places. They often have a table or two where you can sit and eat in. Some will even serve wine to go with the meal. We found such a place in Venice this March, it had a wide range of dishes. If you do go there eat downstairs rather than their dining room upstairs, it is cheaper and more fun to watch the comings and goings of the local customers. You can order at the counter, the price lists are on the wall behind, and they will bring your food to the table. The couple on the table next to us ordered and paid for their food course by course as they went along!

Rosticceria S.Bartolomeo
Centro Storico calle de la Bissa No. 5424 Campo San Bartolomeo

i was just in venice last week and never ate in a sit down restaurant...it was inexpensive, fresh and damn good...there are cicchetti wine bars all over that serve inexpensive wine and brilliant snack/finger food (similar to spanish tapas)...it is fun to go on a wine bar crawl and hit a few in a close area for dinner...you will experience a wide range of foods that is culturally great and tasty...as for lunch and the such just walking around you will see establishments all over displaying panini's, fresh fruit etc etc...nothing better than grabbing a caprese panini and fresh fruit and sitting down for a spell or walking and eating...