Price for a good meal in Italy

On average, a decent main course is anywhere from 10 to 15 euro. Then, you have to add in the 2-3 euro price for bread, 3-6 euro for wine and 10% for service. Sadly, it adds up. If I wanted to eat a good main meal and tried to keep everything else as cheap as possible my meal was usually around 16-18 euro - but it can get as high as 30 euro if you go for a slightly nicer restaurant. Good meals at restaurants can get expensive. However, there are plenty of cafes and shops where you can get a great sandwich or even a meal of some salami, cheese, bread and wine for only around 10 euro or so. I tried to go cheap on the lunches and splurge slightly on dinners.

I agree with Kate. A sit-down dinner for two at a casual restaurant will begin at about 25-30Euro($45). You run into the VAT tax included thing. My wife and I enjoy fine dining. We did do this a couple of times on our recent trip and I really can't tell you what we paid for a couple of great dinners in Florence and Venice. Euros were flying out of the wallet.

Aside from the cheap meals you can have (Pizza, sandwiches, a meal from the market) have at least a few good meals in the traditional Italian style:
Wine (~10E or up) antipasti (~5 to 15E), a Primi (~8E each), a Secondi (~10E each), maybe dessert or coffee. Figure 60 Euro for the two of you. This sounds like alot (money and food) but appropriate for a two hour experience. Many nice meals can be had by skipping a primi or secondi or subbing a vegetable or side (Contorni), dropping that to 30-40E or so. If you go into a more formal sit-down restaurant, it seems it is expected that you get wine and at least two courses. But as mentioned, many meals can be less, but we really had no sit down meals less than 20E, even pizza and drinks from a counter will run 10E for the two of you. My own opinion though is that I will scrimp on a hotel, dial back on the more expensive sights, but rarely compromise on good food, even the cheap food has to be good.

To my previous post, I have to add that this is all based on finding the right restaurants. Many more restaurants are very expensive (10-15E Primis and 15-30E Secondis), some, like most restaurants on major squares, are both expensive and average food, and some out and out tourist spots are just bad food. For the good meals, look for smaller places, usually off the main paths, with a good clientale of locals. Nearly all restaurants have the menu posted outside, from there you can get a sense of the prices and variety on the menu. If they post a list of specials of the day, take special note, this could mean some of the best seasonal, fresh meals you can get. My other advice is order at least on appetizer (antipasti) that you have no idea what it is, or something you thought you would never eat, you'll be amazed most of the time, and have a good story the rest.

I'd say for a NICE dinner in a nice restaurant plan on $50-100 (US dollars). We have learned the trick of sharing. We typically order one antipasti, one or two primi and one secondi. We have never had any server look at us strangely for sharing. We even had one waiter who ran for additional plates when he realized we were sharing. We always leave a good tip when we share.

Thanks for the great suggestions. We have already agreed to try things that we have not had before. I am happy to hear that menus are posted outside on some restaurants so that will avoid any awkward surprises.

I ate much better but paid about the same when I asked locals for restaurant recommendations.

Another important item for me is an English/Italian phrase book with a good section on menus. It will allow you to decode what you are looking at for the most part. I much prefer places that have a single menu in Italian with some English subtitles over a place that has separate language menus. I find the english translation on the menu rarely does justice to the dish, plus you probably know more dishes by their Italian names than a made up English name. For phrase books, Lonely Planet has a good one as does Rick Steves, of course.

One of the best RS tips I've seen is that you should almost always order the daily specials, rather than ordering off the menu. The daily specials will be the freshest items, not the items that are on the menu only for the tourists. The catch price-wise is that you don't always know what the price will be for the specials when you order (unless they're posted on a chalkboard). But the last thing you should do is plunk down all that money to get there and then cheat yourself out of good Italian food!

Sorrento and Naples will be MUCH cheaper than Rome.

Our family of three eats for 20-40 euros in Campania...20 being a pizza each and a bottle or two of sparkling water. for 40 euros last week, we had antipasta (3), 2 pastas, two main courses (I didn't have the meat, and my kid doesn't eat pasta), a liter of house wine and two coffees in a very upscale restaurant (ok - more than onoce and in a few different sopts). On the Amalfi coast, our bill (for the three of us) usually comes to a MAX of 60 euros. In Rome (or Venice or Milan for that matter), the same meal costs us 90-125 Euros.