Teetotal Traveling in Italy . . . without offense?

People won't care if you aren't drinking, nor will they be offended. Not every Italian drinks. You won't be alone in not imbibing.

All you have to say is no thank you, I would like water, or juice, or tea, or coffee, or a soda. You may find some wonderful juices in Italy. Passion fruit, blood orange, cherry, pear nectar, banana juice, and so on.

Lots of Italians don't touch alcohol, either by personal choice or because of health reasons. My mother doesn't drink either and actually most women, especially older women, don't touch alcohol. Just say: "no grazie. non posso bere alcol. Sono astemio." (No thank you, I can't drink alcohol. I'm abstemious.) Nobody is going to be offended.

Why would teetotal be an offense? Just the same as in the US, Say, "No thank you." Don't know why it should be, would be an issue unless you want to make it so. Although I don't know why you would go to a winery if you are not going to sample. The wine making process and the barrels all look the same from one winery to another.

You won't have a problem not drinking alcohol with meals. Waiters will happily bring you mineral water or some other drink. At other times, fresh-squeezed juice is a "spremuta". Another widely available drink in summer is mint syrup with cold milk or carbonated water - very refreshing. Also peach iced tea.

Hi,
I like Rick spend a bit of time in Italy on business and I don't drink, Italians don't see it as alcohol, it is a drink like coffee or soft drink, they don't have the hang ups we have with booze. It doesn't matter if you drink or not, I go to a lot of happy hours with the clients to bars and restaurants and they all have a drink and I enjoy my soft drink.
They don't understand that I also don't drink coffee or eat chocolate though. They think I must be sick.

I don't think you'll have a problem in restaurants - you have to order wine, they don't just bring it to the table. Order sparkling water or something like that instead. Have an espresso (un caffè) after your meal if you like coffee. I don't think you'll offend anyone, and I don't think you should have a problem avoiding alcohol.

Juice is wonderful, especially the arancia rossa (blood orange). If you want to tour a winery, just let them know ahead of time that your family does not drink and see if they can provide some juice or sparkling water, etc. I can understand why you would still want to visit and winery and see the process even if you do not drink wine! If you are at a bar or an aperitivo (a pre-dinner buffet - buy a drink, eat some snacks from the buffet) - you can always ask for a cocktail "analcolico" (non-alcoholic) di frutta. My cousin's fiance would join us in going to aperitivo, but chose not to drink - so she usually asked for a fruity non-alcoholic drink. It was no problem.

Thank you so much for the wonderful replies. I'll be practicing the phrases (and the nonchalant attitude) suggested!

Thomas

And to avoid offence in the other direction, you should know many restaurants will impose a cover charge for bread whether you order it or not and want to sell you bottled water. Abstinence can carry a price too.

As others have said, you won't have any problems. I don't drink wine at all and never felt awkward for a moment, nor do I think anyone around me felt uncomfortable. We stayed at a wonderful agriturismo in Siena and they make their own wine and serve it along with dinners and I enjoyed their winery tour even though I don't drink wine and I don't think they gave it a second thought when I politely said "no thank you" to the wine they served with dinner. You will find many other beverage options everywhere you go in Italy. As someone else said, I discovered a wonderful juice that was a blend of several different fruits and I loved it and wish I could get it in the U.S. Have a great trip!

We just came back from Italy. While I did drink the wine at times, frequently I did not. Wine tends to make me very sleepy. I would order either water or a soda. I will say if you are thirsty order a water. The soda (I usually had Diet Coke) usually came with a glass (even ice!) and a can. One of the cans was only 150 ml (about 2/3 of a cup). For the same price you can get 500 ml or more of water - with or without gas. I never once got the impression that this was unusual.