How bad is the smoke - ALL kinds?

You'll still smell more cigarette smoke in Italy (not marijuana) more in public than in the USA. The only thing you can do is stay home if cigarette smoke is your primary asthma attack trigger or make sure you carry your rescue inhaler. I have asthma but cigarette smoke is not what triggers it.

I have never noticed marijuana smoke in Europe (Italy being the country I have visited the most) being that omnipresent, even in Amsterdam. You will encounter cigarette smoke, as sure as the sun will rise.
Perfume is also a problem, and I have had to move tables due to that I am sorry to say. Also be on alert about accommodations, as those "stick in perfume oil" home fragrances are popular, but I find putting them in a cupboard usually does the trick.

On our first Rick Steves tour, our amazing tour guide Daniela acknowledged our American aversion to cigarettes, and said this, "please, it is important not to consider it a moral failure that European's enjoy smoking!" I thought it was brilliant, and have applied that thought to many things other than smoking and far beyond travel!

But, that doesn't fix how hard it can be to tolerate the actual smoke smell when you are sensitive or asthmatic. We were only overcome by pot smell on a few streets in Amsterdam last spring. It's hard to avoid the smoking anywhere in Europe. In Germany we marveled at the very fit looking long distance bike riders enjoying a break for cigarettes and french fries.

It's not only when eating outside, though. If your hotel room overlooks the street, you might get it coming in the windows. I haven't been to Italy recently, but I had this problem at several stops in Ireland last summer.

I expected to run into smoking cigarettes, but hadn't really thought about the more offensive marijuana smoke until it gained steam seemingly everywhere here, but wasn't sure if it's as popular (or legal) in Italy. Been to Amsterdam and yes, a LOT of it there but I was prepared and masked up/did a runner when needed LOL. But after the explosion of pot hawkers all over the place infringing on local businesses' air space here, I thought I had better ask. We're staying in apartments throughout our stay so not too worried about that as I'm in communication with the people for each - we wanted a full kitchen to make tea/breakfast and some of our dinners - we love to browse the markets and cook up special things wherever we go, all part of the fun for us.

Valadelphia, was it a problem to ask to change tables? Please let me know if you got the stink eye or if was no big deal as I am a bit concerned about that. I usually don't have an issue with people's perfume when we sit outside as there's plenty of air circulation, so it must've been reeeeeeeeeeeeally strong! Kiddo and I are on opposite ends of the asthma "spectrum" - she closes up in real humid heat and around certain animals (her cat allergy is so bad she had swollen eyes after just a quick hug with a peer, turned out has cats) and I have chest pain in severe cold and bronchospasm from my asthma triggers, so I violently cough rather than close up. Pot smoke destroys us both - smell and the burning sensation in my chest is just awful. No way to just quietly move away if something really gets me - I've cracked a rib from coughing fits when I'm exposed to enough of something.

I have zero qualms about asking for something like moving away from perfume (which I find noxious and think should be illegal far more than pot) and care not one whit if anyone else finds it strange, so I'm not the one to ask. While they probably thought it was strange, they moved me (there was a language barrier, with my elementary Italian being able to get me what I needed but not enabling me to pick up on any weirdness about it). Perfume lingers, while smoke, as awful as it may be, does waft away.
No one will be burning down right next to your table--I think cigarette smoke will be far more of a problem. good luck!

You should be prepared for smoke. A few years ago we had to pass through a gauntlet of smokers outside the doors of every train station in Switzerland.

And more recently I was unpleasantly surprised at how pervasive smoking was in Vienna. Even following someone walking down the street was not fun, perhaps we're just not used to it because here in CA smoking is practically a capital crime.

We had a fantastic apartment rented one or two blocks from the Duomo in Florence. We were on the third floor. There was a small restaurant on the ground floor. I was concerned that noise might be a problem. Noise was no problem, the problem was that because smoking wasn’t allowed in the restaurant, everyone stood outside the door to smoke and the smoke of course went right into our apartment. It was a bummer. Really couldn’t avoid it. I also live in California, and I’m rarely exposed to any kind of smoking so it was quite a jolt. This is when you have to choose to accentuate the positive and ignore the negative—-ensuring you have an inhaler if you need one or perhaps even choosing to sleep in a different room than you expected to sleep in i.e. shifting into a living room rather than a bedroom.

As the previous reply mentioned, I've found that many restaurants in Europe don't allow smoking inside so smokers sit outside on the patio. If that's the case, I always request indoor seating and so far that method has worked well.

I don't like to have my aperitivo or eat outside here... too many smokers. Outside highschools it is amazing how so many teens are smoking. At running races, spectators are smoking.

As a former 25 year smoker who quit in 2009 secondhand cigarette smoke bothers me to no end. That being said the amounts of cigarette smoke you’ll encounter at bars and restaurants in Italy, but not pot smoke as that’s illegal in most of Europe, is far smaller than it used to be years ago. A few if my Italian friends still smoke but they always go elsewhere to smoke up snd don’t do it even if we’re sitting out on a patio outdoors. Usually it’s easy to take if it’s just one or two people but in some cities in Italy they’ve banned outdoor smoking as well. Is it enforced? Probably not, just like the helmet laws in certain cities.

Legality of marijuana and exposure to its smoke don't correlate that much, in my experience. I have smelled marijuana on the street in Dublin, Belfast, London and Edinburgh. It's illegal in all of those places. This has only been in passing, though, vs cigarette smokers who sit or stand in one place and smoke.

Maybe my sense of smell is poor!!! I don't think I've ever smelled pot on the streets in Italy, and I noticed that fewer people seem to be smoking cigarettes. Just my own observation..

I only ate restaurant food twice in Italy in my 14 night trip, in July 2017. I was sitting indoors both times. I encountered more smokers in Greece and Germany than in Italy. I didn't eat any restaurant food in Germany. I only ate restaurant food about 3 times in Greece. If I smell smoke, I more away from it. If I see somebody smoking, I avoid them, wait for them to walk far enough ahead, or breathe in before approaching and then breathe out slowly for the next 35 seconds as I past swiftly by. I was travelling alone. I had no travel companions to complain at me for dodging smokers. Everybody thinks you have to eat restaurant food when you travel. Italy has good grocery stores. I encountered at least two outdoor food vendors selling various fruit and produce.

You can smoke a cigarette at a restaurant only at outdoor tables, if the restaurant permits it since it’s up to the restaurant management (inside it is prohibited by law).

Smoking marijuana in public is illegal in Italy therefore you won’t experience what you experience in places like California.

Barely noticed it, but you’ve got to roll with things like this or you won’t truly experience the country.

Thanks all. I'm all about going with the flow and new experiences, and normally can shrug things off and cope with harsher conditions without issue (think squat toilets in tropical climates and villages with no hot water). My asthma, however, is not something I can simply shrug off LOL! I wanted to be prepared ahead so I know what to expect and the response about smoke getting into the apartment is a perfect example of what I need to brace myself for. I am VERY relieved to hear that pot is less of an issue, as that has become a real problem over here in NJ. There are places we don't even go anymore as it has become so prevalent. I mean, you can't take your kids to the beach anymore without exposing them to this crap, it's unbelievable. Need to plan ahead for a backup location in case you get smoked out. Cigarette smoke is bad enough, but I swear the pot must be heavier as it seems to linger and spread, rather than drift up and away LOL.

ksmomma, not Italy, and strictly anecdotal, but I just spent a week in London, followed by a week in Paris. I noticed most smokers were women. By the end of my Paris stay, I learned to take a table further away from other women. It helped.

It's the cultural norm to mix weed and tobacco in a joint in Europe. That possibly makes the smell of weed less prominent.

Doesn't help you, but I'm not sure if that's general knowledge as far as the wider question goes.

If you get asthma issues from cigarette smoke, you will be safer eating at restaurants inside, where smoking is prohibited. Many restaurants however permit smoking at outside tables, and occasionally I happened to sit next to an outdoor table where the patrons were smokers. I don't suffer from asthma but I don't like to smell tobacco smoke while I eat, and unfortunately there are still many Italians who like to light up a cigarette at the end of their meal when they are still sitting at the table. Fortunately pot smoking is not as prevalent as it is here in California (it's illegal to smoke pot in public, so people smoke it at home for the most part, although some youngsters light up joints at rock concerts or discos). The smell of marijuana reminds me of the smell of skunks so I can't stand it either, when someone smokes it near me, I leave.

Last year I encountered a small group of teen student smoking INSIDE the lobby of the Pisa train station because it was pouring rain outside. I was waiting for a train. I approached them and explained in Italian that I have asthma and would they please go outside to smoke. They apologized and went outside.

We were frankly surprised at how much weed was being smoked many places in Europe last summer. We encountered it in pretty much every country we visited except Poland. Most prevalent in Netherlands, Edinburgh and Genoa, but it was also noticeable in Bologna. Almost never so strong we couldn't stand it, and a few steps away it was gone in every case except Amsterdam.

I believe more people are smoking (tobacco) post-COVID, as smokers have seemed to me to be more prevalent in our European travels after the pandemic. Some studies seem to back this up. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9384158/

I can’t say I’ve noticed pot smoke in Italy, although a vending machine around the corner from our last apartment in Bologna had, I think, both tobacco and marijuana for sale. I didn’t go over to peruse it, so I’m not positive, but that was what I sensed from seeing it a few feet away.

On the other hand, I think somebody must be giving away vape pens to every teenaged girl in Italy, especially in Rome. Whether in pairs, on their own, or in groups, young ladies in their late-teens-to-mid-twenties were standing on sidewalks, or walking, or sitting at cafe or dining tables outside. Whether they crave nicotine, or the pens are mostly a fashionable accessory that produces (fashionable?) smoke, they’re ubiquitous. Southern France had its share last summer, too.

We strictly dine inside, to get away from outdoor tables that will certainly have smokers. If the restaurant opens windows or doors to bring in “fresh air,” and let the outdoors in, the smoke comes in, too. We try to avoid that situation as much as possible. Walking to a restaurant’s front door sometimes means running a gauntlet of tables along the sidewalk, with smokers puffing away.

Coming from a place where almost nobody smokes, except for the occasional, usually younger person on the chairlift seat up ahead who’s smoking tobacco, pot, or vaping despite ski area rules against it, strolling and dining in Italy (and elsewhere in Europe) is different. I hold my breath when I see a smoker up ahead, until I get past them. If there’s a breeze blowing back at me, I have to make adjustments.

It's maybe worth noting that tobacco smoking has a much longer and more storied history in Europe than it ever did in North America. Smoking is definitely less socially acceptable than it was a few decades ago, but it's been ingrained in some European cultures a very long time.

Those long and storied histories of tobacco production in the US and Europe are very much intertwined of course.

I have a theory about why the incidence of smoking has dropped so much in the US and not as much in many countries in Europe. I have no idea whether it holds water, but here it is:

The US came out of WWII in far better economic shape than most of Europe, for obvious reasons. A lot of Americans could afford cigarettes in the 1950s and got totally addicted. That probably didn't happen as fast in Europe for economic reasons. It's now 70 years after the end of WWII and many Americans have watched their grandparents or parents suffer greatly with emphysema or lung cancer. They are perhaps less likely to start smoking, or more likely to do the difficult work of quitting. The habit grew more slowly in Europe, so I suspect not as many now-living Europeans have seen the misery it can cause within their circle of family and friends.

The situation is a lot better for travelers in Europe than it was back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, but it does vary a lot from country to country.

I think it has more to do with the people of the US periodically going on "crusades" against this or that all the way back to when the country started.

Took a class a while ago in early US History. One of the main themes I picked up was the almost regular clockwork of Religious Revivals that ran through most of the early colonies. Separated by cycles of gradually increasing debauchery in between. :)

It's slowed down a lot but I think we're still good for a crusade or two if pitched right.

I really think it has a lot to do with perception. My initial response was going to be that smoking is mostly a none issue but then I read all of the responses.. When we were traveling in the 70s smoking was an issue, big issue even within the US. Remember when the back half of the plane was the smoking section? Now I have never smoked anything so I think I pretty sensitive to smoke but not hyper. Over the past couple of decades Europe has lagged the US in the banning of smoking but generally Europe is pretty good with nearly all indoor smoking is ban. Even the outdoor smoking is restrictive so I was going to say, "You should not have too many problems." Now I don't know. And we never encounter much mj smoking even in Amsterdam. And say something to the waiter when you are being seated. They understand.

The US came out of WWII in far better economic shape than most of Europe, for obvious reasons. A lot of Americans could afford cigarettes in the 1950s and got totally addicted. That probably didn't happen as fast in Europe for economic reasons.

The point I was making above yours is that smoking goes back a lot longer in Europe. Sure, the American-style filter cigarette was a bit of a status symbol in the post-war years. It laid the blueprint for what modern cigarettes look like. Almost all (maybe all?) cigarettes common on the UK market today are Virginia Tobacco.

It's now 70 years after the end of WWII and many Americans have watched their grandparents or parents suffer greatly with emphysema or lung cancer. They are perhaps less likely to start smoking, or more likely to do the difficult work of quitting.

I'm guessing as a non-smoker, you'd be surprised how little an impact that has on the smoker. Loads of people have died from smoking-related illnesses over here too.

In The Netherlands, tobacco is so much a part of the history, and smoking there goes back long before the 20th century. There's not many bruin cafés left in Amsterdam, but they speak to that history. In Italy, the cigarette after dinner is one example of the cultural rituals around smoking that still persist. In England, outside the pub there will often be more people than inside, many of whom are smoking. Having a ciggie with a drink is quite British, even for very occasional smokers. If you go looking on the foreshore of The River Thames in London, you'll still find loads of little disposable ceramic tobacco pipes scattered around, some of which are the best part of four hundred years old.