No Root Beer In Italy!!!!!

More bad news: no ice cream in Italy; they've got this cheap imitation stuff they call gelato but it's just awful watered down ice cream. (But Italy does have a few art museums)

True no Root Beer in Italy......for Italians. But foreigners can purchase limited amounts at government run stores located in every village and city, ask your hotel for the location. To purchase you will need your passport and a special permit you can obtain at the immigration check when you enter the country. Tell the immigration official "La squadra S.U.A. ha dato dei calci al team' italiano; asino di s nella tazza di confederazioni in giugno." and they'll set you up. Under no circumstances should you resell this root beer to the locals, it's a very serious crime and you will be imprisoned for it. Rent the movie "Midnight Express"

If you want Oreos it gets even worse! You have to apply in writing (in triplicate, translated into Italian) three months in advance before they let you buy some at the same place where you get the root beer.

Don't even mention Cheez Doodles, unless you want to spend the rest of your vacation in jail.

I’m still in therapy from my viewing of Midnight Express, and that was back in the 1980s! I had to soak my eyeballs in bleach. Well, I guess it wasn’t that bad. Here’s something you really can’t get in Italy…Starbuck’s. No root beer, no Starbuck’s, and too many ZTLs. That’s it…I’m not going to Italy. What kind of corrupt regime doesn't allow root beer for the locals but looks the other way for tourists?

Don't get me started about the EU ban on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!

We now refer to them as Freedom Cups! Capitalist Cups really didn't work, because the taxpayers had to bailout Reese's. Socialist Cups didn't flow quite right. With all the success of Freedom Fries, a natural extension to peanut butter cups seemed appropriate.

ds you have started something here. I will give you a serious answer: you may be able to find it in some specialty grocers in larger cities. I was looking for Ginger beer recently to make a dark & stormy, and I did find some in Pegna, which is a very fancy gourmet shop here in Florence that has the best of everything Italian and a selection of imported foods. I didn't notice if they had regular root beer though since I wasn't looking - but to find Ginger beer was pretty amazing to me.

I have a faint recollection that this same question has been asked before and in the same incredulous manner. Was it James of NY (he of sainted memory!)who brought this up? What ever happened to him anyway? Last we heard we was on his way to Genoa, or so he said.

Yes Norma! I tried to find it through advanced goolge search but it didn't come up. I especially loved all the tales of Europeans who arrive in Northamerica and try root beer for the first time. I did this trick (well, with some warning) on my cousin a couple of weeks ago who compared the experience to eating toothpaste ...

http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/helpline/index.cfm?topic=25108

Good find, Michael. The question in the OP doesn't get better with repetition, either.

Oh, Norma! Why did you have to wish James back?

It's been so peaceful here...

No root beer, no panda express, no fast food mexican... I cannot pack fast enough.

Michael, Not true! on my last stopover at London heathrow I saw a gorgeous little orange packet of reeses peanut butter cups! ohhh the joy...

You're right they did introduce PCs into the UK a couple of years ago. Although the chocolate seems a bit different... more of a dark variety as opposed to milk chocolate.

Why are you searching for root beer, anyway? Most people go to foreign countries to find different things. I, personally, find it refreshing that they do not have a large number of fast food places in Italy. And...I think gelato is every bit as tasty as our ice cream, and with more exotic flavors. I have noticed more Chinese restaurants the last few years even in the smaller towns.

Buon viaggio,

RB

what a strange post..........
why do people travel?
different cultures, different lifestyles.....
so what does it matter if there is no root bear or ice cream as we know it.....
that is the point of travel is it not??????????

bluedenim, RB et al: This same person (ds) asked this same question last January so I really don't think we need to take it as a serious search for information.

Although there is no rootbeer in Italy, you can find Chico soda. It is either cherry flavored soda or cherry cola. Geeze I lived in Italy for YEARS and never tried the stuff. I feel regret.

Root Beer in shop named Castroni in Rome on via cola di rienzo by the vatican!

I can only hope there's Taco Bell when I head to Mexico City again...

Thanks for the laughs. Sittin here with a sick kid!

This thread is full of WIN.

What I miss when visiting Italy is the Kraft Parmesan cheese from back home!!!

http://www.indojin.com/shop-online/catalog/images/kraft-parmesan.gif

[bluedenim, this entire thread is meant in jest, my part about the Kraft Parmesan cheese definitely is! I have two Italian aunts who would not allow that "green can" into their homes....the consequences for trying were a stern lecture and a smack upside the head with a wooden kitchen spoon!]

so why are Italians not allowed to get root beer?

And since there is no such thing as vanilla ice cream in Italy, don't even think about a root beer float!

Has anyone noticed that this thread is over 3 years old?

There are no rules in Italy against root beer, except for very basic rules of good taste. However I do think there should be a worldwide ban on root beer, or at least it should come with a Surgeon General warning: "Drinking root beer may result in total loss of taste buds and no chance of landing you a job as a sommelier".

Sassafras root flavors a sweet, carbonated beverage called "root beer." Growing up I liked root beer floats; they are made by floating a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass of root beer. Maybe this is an "only in America" treat.

How on earth did Mohamed find this post from 3 years ago?

its called google

I'm Italian, what is the Root beer?

Chinotto, anyone?

From what I understand root beer, the high-end stuff, is popular among some Muslim-Americans as a non-alcoholic substitute. Just like imitation bacon-bits is popular among some orthodox Jewish-American communities. It's a way of fitting-in without actually violating your religious traditions. Perhaps Mohammed has become a connoisseur of it, and wants to know if he can get it in his travels.

I understand, an alcoholic Chinotto!

Allow me to rephrase: WHY on earth did Mohamed find this topic from three years ago? Was he googling "Root Beer" +Italy?

is a question that worry you? do not have to!

if Mohammed is a connoisseur of it, we can honestly confirm to him that in Italy there is not root beer, but I want to believe that we can renounce to this drink for a few weeks.

Claudio, root beer is non-alcoholic, much sweeter than Chinotto. I think root beer is as hard to find in Italy as Chinotto is in the States.

Thanks for the information Zoe, but I did not think there was anything in the world sweeter than Chinotto. So you're saying that root beer is non-alcoholic, you know, I have a conditioned reflex when I hear the word "beer".

There's no Dr. Pepper, either.

Dr. Pepper? I've only seen in movies.