Gluten Free in Italy

Most of not all the hotels I've stayed at in Italy have an American style breakfast: pork and eggs, juice, fruit and coffee. And we showed up in small town Orvieto and spontaneously found gluten free restaurant (with home made gluten free bread) by seeing the word senza glutine on the menu. This is pretty prevalent in big tourist cities like Rome and Florence where you only hear English spoken in the streets.

A recent thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/question-about-availably-of-gluten-free-meals-in-italy

Instinctually I would have answered no way, but I’d be wrong. Having visited Italy this past summer I was amazed how much consideration is given to food sensitivities and food allergies. Most restaurants we visited (except for the tiny ones with hand drawn menus) had it spelled out in detail with footnotes indicating ingredients including gluten. There are webpages that can point you to specific restaurants as well. Breakfast in Italy is a very small meal-usually coffee and a roll. That won’t do for you. Hotels that have Brits and Americans often have eggs and fruit is almost always available especially that time of year.

Italy is the easiest country I’ve been to for eating gf. Far easier than the US, even though I speak almost no Italian. I’m not celiac but my son is and since he’s a child I’m responsible for making sure he can eat safely!

Almost every restaurant has gf options, and is knowledgeable about what that means (awareness of cross contamination and so forth). Menus are often marked, there’s letters next to each dish corresponding to different allergens so it’s clear what’s available to you.

I always print an allergen card - you can find them on google, it’s just a small paper that explains what celiac is in Italian (or whatever language you need). I’ve never needed to use it in Italy - awareness is that high - but it’s been helpful in other countries and is certainly a good thing to have.

I don’t remember the name offhand but there’s an Italian organization that lists restaurants that are exceptionally good for celiac awareness. I’ve been to some of their listings and had great experiences (but plenty of non-listed restaurants were good for this too).

Breakfast in a hotel often has a spread of fruit, cheese, cold cuts, yogurt, and bread. Usually everything but the bread is fine. I have run into gluten free bread or pastries in the hotel breakfast but that’s not for sure unless you ask beforehand. However, I’d bet most hotels would stock something for you if you let them know a few days before you arrive (I’ve never done this, we stay in apartments or make do with the available offerings at the hotel).
But GF breads and other foods are easy to find in groceries, so you could always supplement what’s available if needed. For example, one hotel we stayed in didn’t have GF bread. My son was fine with yogurt/fruit except the hotel had Nutella and he understandably wanted some way to eat it...so we bough GF bread so he could.

Mama Eat, Via di S. Cosimato, 7/9, 00153 Rome

The restaurant is located in Trastevere, but easy walking distance from Tram #8 if you aren’t staying in the area. They have a website so you can get a feel for the offerings. We ate there last May and really loved it.

Hello, I was in Italy in September and had posted the following in this forum about eating gluten free and dairy free on my trip:

"Since there are fewer posts about this, thought I would share my food experiences during a recent 15 day Italy trip which included Venice, Siena, Florence, Cinque Terre and Rome.
* I was able to find soy milk almost everywhere for my espresso, even in non-touristy neighborhoods.
* We were able to sub parmesan or pecorino for mozzarella in restaurants quite easily (much less lactose).
* GF pizza crust and pasta options in many restaurants. One certified GF is Voglia di Pizza near Campo di Fiori in Rome.
* Cinque Terre was awesome food-wise! Highlights were farinata (chick pea flatbread) and a regional dish with fresh anchovies, potatoes and tomatoes. Excellent take out restaurant in Monarola near the beach with separate GF menu called Via Renato Birolli. And a GF gelateria there called Sorebetteria Gelateria 5 Terre.
* Hotel breakfast buffets had so many options, there was always something great to eat and GF crackers/biscuits always offered on request.
* Staying in airbnb apartments in Venice and Florence was great and allowed us to make our own breakfasts and a few dinners.
* Awesome natural food store in Venice, near Rialto bridge and market: NaturaSi"