Per day for food in Italy

50 euros a day per person is the suggested food allowance. Adjust up or down as desired.

Barbara: When we went to Italy last year, I had illusions of eating in all these nice, famous restaurants in Florence and Rome. When you get into their appetizers, First Course, Second Course and dessert, it was just so much food. We simply don't eat that heavily. We often would eat heavy at the continental breakfasts, and snack after lunch. Then we'd pay for a decent dinner. When we moved to a 2 bedroom agriturismo apartment on a farm, there were few restaurants around and we cooked at nights.
Food is certainly more expensive than you're probably used to spending. But the amount you spend just depends on your eating habits, and the sky's the limit.

Hopefully breakfast is included with your hotel. 50 Euros should be pretty cushy. We always have a nice lunch out, take our time, rest both mind and body. This is the meal we plunk down our Euros for. To others this is a huge waste of time. Eating in Italy should be a delight for your taste buds as well as your eyes! I always take a few basic picnic supplies (a few disposable plastic plates, knives, forks, spoons and a CORKSCREW). Also, take a cloth grocery bag. We pick up a "bed spread picnic" for dinner from the market (talk about trying some weird stuff - hey! this is wonderful, I don't know what it is but have some!) Be very tidy when doing the bed spread picnic. Wrap up and dispose of leftovers carefully. Then we go out for a stroll, gelato anyone? If you're on a tight budget you can easily do it for less with more picnics, a pizza dinner (not to be confused with American pizza)and antipasto. Buy your fruit at the co-op. Don't compromise your vacation with poor nutrition. Be advised that fish and meat may be priced by weight so ask if unsure or you may be shocked silly.

Without any information concerning your preferences or style, I would start at 50E/per person and you can easily go up or down from that point. 75E would be comfortable for great evening meals and wine. If you go the grocery store route then you might get it down to 30 to 40E. It just depends ----

We also plan 100 euro per day but usually underrun that. Breakfast is yogurt, pastry late AM, a couple of coffees, panino or something light for lunch, good dinner with a bottle of wine. Even now we usually get two antipasti (often the most creative part of the menu), share a pasta and get 2 secondi (or vice versa) and a contorno. We seek out local trattorias, have pizza for dinner twice a week when traveling, and the occasional picnic or splurge lunch. We rent apartments, but if you have a b&b or hotel with breakfast, you can shift your budget accordingly.