I just wanted to see what the going rate is for tipping at restaurants in Italy these days? I know 10% is appropriate in some areas of Europe but I've heard that some countries get offended if you tip because they are professionals and it is insulting to tip. I don't want to be cheap, nor do I want to offend anyone. I have also booked a private driver for a tour and it is suggested to tip the driver. Would that be a 10% tip as well?
Thanks for any help you can give !
Tips are not a common practice at all in Italy and is not expected.
Restaurant staff is also prohibited to ask for one.
Restaurants: 0% (or at most, if paying cash, you might leave the change). The credit card slip will not have the blank line for gratuity, so if you pay by credit card, you can't add the tip to it. I leave none.
Taxi: 0%. Since taxi drivers in Italy are entrepreneurs (licenses can only be granted to individuals) owners of license and cars (they are not employees of a taxi company), they make quite a bit of money. They are a powerful lobby, and Italy is one place where they managed to have the government ban Uber and Lyft. I leave none and often complain regardless. They are the most likely to cheat on the fares too.
Porters/Bell Boy: 1 euro per piece of luggage
Private car guide/driver. If it's a long tour of many hours, 2 euro per hour would more than do it in my book. That is easily more than 20% of their net hourly salary.
The private driver/ tour I was talking about is going to be about 6 hours along the Amalfi coast. It will cost 270 euro for 2 people. So does a 15 euro tip seem fair?
Its not about offending people. Its that they are paid a decent living wage with benefits, and handing free money to people for doing the job they are paid to due is not normal practice. When in Rome .....................
In the US, servers are paid $2-2.5 / hour and expect to earn their living from tips. Thats not true over there. They get a living wage, free health care, education and 4-5 weeks paid vacation.
Italy is one place where they managed to have the government ban Uber and Lyft
Roberto, we have Uber in Rome. I do not know about Lyft. I am pretty sure Uber is in Milano, too.
yes they do get a reasonable wage but free healthcare.................. no that is paid for through taxes /deductions from wages ,if may be free at source but it is paid for.
Tipping is not a big thing in Europe rounding things up is the best way to go but tipping at 15-20% is just wrong.
I don not tip neither the porter guy nor the limo driver. And I do not know any Italian that does/would do it.
They get a monthly wage like everybody else, why should I tip them and not the plumber or the lawyer?
Uber's drivers in Rome are all licensed limos (aka NCC in Italy), I think it is called Uber Black in US. Uber pop was actually banned in some European contries like Italy and France thanks to cab drivers lobbying.
It is important to understand WHY we tip servers in the US. It is because they are not paid a regular wage - their wage is low and depends significantly on tips. Good service should result in a better tip, but they are necessary for earning a living wage.
In most of Europe, server wages are regular wages. There is no need to tip because they are paid appropriately. If you did get really nice service, leaving the loose change or a euro is a nice gesture of appreciation, but any more than that is often seen as flaunting one's wealth or just another American sucker giving away their money (some servers know this and push Americans to leave something).
Every Italian RS guide we've traveled with has confirmed the no tipping, or just rounding up, practice in Italy. It's so nice not to have to deal with this obnoxious US practice.
What about tips for tour guides? Does it depend on the length of the tour and/or whether they're with a company vs. independent?
No Laurel.
In Rome, Milan, and Florence what you have is Uber Black, which is a professional black luxury limo service operated by professional limo drivers who possess an NCC (Noleggio Con Conducente) license, which is a restricted professional license more difficult to obtain than a taxi license. Not surprisingly, their service often costs more than a regular taxi, which in Italy is already comparatively expensive on a per mile basis.
The familiar Uber Pop, where you have the average Joe Doe driving his own car, was banned in Italy in 2015 by a Court decision.
What about tips for tour guides? Does it depend on the length of the tour and/or whether they're with a company vs. independent
Ketie it's very easy: you don't have to tip anybody in Italy and Italians do not tip anybody.
I just came back from a trip to Italy a month ago and based on the advice from a few people here I didn't leave any tip...with one exception. When I went to the Blue Grotto, the guy on the row boat going into the cave kept mentioning that he's providing a special service such as turning around twice inside the cave and taking pictures of us. I knew what he wanted and Rick even warned about it in his book. When we're outside I thought okay, maybe I would give him a 5 Euro tip, but then he said straight to my face "That would be 20 Euros sir!"
I didn't know what to think or say, and was so stunned that I offered no resistance. My wife later said that the people on the boat next to us were also asked the same amount. After I gave him the money, he helped us disembark and said some nice things such as how wonderful he thought our family is etc. Now when I think back about this incident, I wonder what he would have said if I refused to give him the money. Maybe some not very nice things that would have ruined the day for us, in which case I think the money was somewhat well spent.
This gets argued and reargued here every couple of months. (Example: Tips?)
By tipping, some Americans in Italy create a culture of expectation for tips at the heavily touristed sites. Last year I took a taxi from the Assisi train station up into the town. The price is already an extremely high 15 euros for at most a ten minute ride, but when I handed the driver a 20 euro note, he actually said "Devo il resto?" to me, meaning "Do I have to give you the change?" Not being able to quickly translate "Heck, yeah, dude. I am not giving you a 33% tip on a ten minute cab ride!" I just responded "Si'" and held out my hand for my five.
Believe the Italians on this site - they don't tip in Italy. Here's another person in Italy weighing in. http://katieparla.com/tips-for-tipping-in-italy/
We spent a couple of months in Venice, taking breakfast at the same bar most days - the Ai Artisti in Campo San Barnaba. Breakfast, due cappucine e due brioche came to 4.60 euro. We always put the 40 cents in the tip jar.
After a week or two, they would make our two cappucinos as soon as we walked in, without asking. I don't know if it was the small tip that made us memorable, or just the fact that two Aussies spending so long in Venice was unusual, but we certainly enjoyed the small connection with the bar staff. 40 cents a day was a small price to pay for a bit of a relationship.
