Picnic Lunches

You can have a picnic in most parks in Italy, but not in most piazzas.

thanks. I totally didn't thin about Collapsible Plastics Cups. They'll take up less room in the luggage.

We used plastic water glass. Who says you need stemware? The Europeans are not as fussy as we are about open containers. Take your bottle. However, some areas are prohibiting picnics in public areas. This is true in Rome. So you might look around to see what the locals are doing and not just other tourists.

We always carry collapsible plastic cups for just such a need. They are used in hotels, on trains, etc. Also, we each carry a spork and napkins. They are always with us because you never know when you will need them. Our picky pseudo puritism is not a factor in Europe when having alcoholic beverages in public.

Robert - We recently had two great sunset picnics by the breakwater in Monterosso. We had bottles of wine with us and did not even draw a glance. We used plastic cups from our room. They were both great picnics - I strongly recommend it!

On a recent trip I bought a beautiful crystal wine glass in Prague for a picnic, and managed to carry it the rest of the trip and it even made it home with me...but I could also drink wine out of a paper cup, coffee cup, plastic cup... but not the bottle:))

Several places where we purchased picnic food opened the bottle of wine for us and provided cups. Do look around to get a feel for where others are picnicing and follow suit. The Conad near the Pantheon actually has a sort of food court area upstairs where you can purchase your lunch, sandwiches, freshly made salads and cold beverages and eat at tables.

Same answer as the others, the most romantic picnic I had was in St. Marks Square listening to the piano's play with local meats, cheeses and wine sipped out of plastic cups.

It is against the law to picnic in St Marks's Square or on any public street. Ice creams are ok.

I wouldn't bother with collapsible cups from home. If your hotel doesn't have plastic cups, you can get them at the same supermarket where you buy the wine and food. Use them and toss them with the rest of your trash, instead of carrying sticky (or wet) cups around with you afterward. Please don't use paper cups, wine just doesn't taste right from them. I would bring a pack of ziplock bags to keep the food in, especially left-overs, and a serrated knife (to slice the rolls, baguettes, bread, and to spread the pesto, mustard, whatever). And picnic dinners save even more money than picnic lunches. . .

We did a picnic on the Seine in Paris and just drank our wine directly out of the bottles. Oops.

What a faux pas! And you wonder why they don't like Americans? Just kidding.

One thing many people forget is to bring a cork-screw. Many people have had to borrow ours.