Vegan in Italy

No problem which tour covering what cities are you considering?

There are quite a few vegan options, they do fairly well in most "modern" restaurants of noting vegan options, and not too bad in more traditional restaurants. The difficulty is in trying to ask detailed questions and the many items that may have only slight amount of non-vegan ingredients (butter or a bit of broth in a sauce, an egg in pasta, etc.)

As long as you are a bit tolerant, and are satisfied with somewhat narrow options, then no problem. You might take a look at the Happycow website to see if there are restaurants in the cities you will be in, to have for meals on your own.

I’m vegan and have done 11 Rick tours. 3 of them were either in Italy or had time in Italy. There was no problem with food except in one location on the Village Italy tour (the cooking class) where the guide had difficulty getting them to understand no animal products included no eggs or cheese or wild boar, lol.

I usually make a point to touch base with the guide after the first meet-up. I ask that they let me know if vegan choices will be a problem with any of the group meals so I can be ready with back up food. In general the guides have always advocated for me and Italy was easy. I did get thoroughly tired of the only veg being zucchini and eggplant but that’s just me, lol.

Go, don’t worry. Have back up snacks in your purse or “bus bag”.

Wow! Thank you to all that provided insight. This is encouraging. We are considering the 9 day heart of Italy tour. 🇮🇹 It's good to know I won't go hungry. 😁

That was my first RS tour and my first trip to Italy. Guide, Trina, was fantastic and I think we had vegan meals every time. In Volterra she called ahead to the restaurant to see if they would fix their Tuscan bean soup which was vegan and so awesome! I have NO idea where we ate (1st trip and it was a bit of a blur). My brother was on that tour with me and he is also vegan so she had 2 of us to deal with, lol.

Do try to arrive at least the day before your trip begins if you have enough time to do so. Two days is even better because there is really only a full day and the next morning in Rome.

Thank you! It seems eating vegan in Italy is easier than I thought! Thanks for your response. The bean soup sounds great!

Like most Med countries, Italian cooking is based on olive oil and vegetables. In my experience, RS guides are excellent at arranging for special dietary needs. While I've never seen vegan gelato, you can enjoy granita and maybe some sorbets.

Granita sounds delicious! Thank you!

Italian cooking is based on olive oil

It's based on butter north of Florence, so a vegan should be aware that many northern dishes like risotto, polenta and purea can't be vegan friendly.

Some restaurants make the Tuscan bean soup (aka the ribollita) with chicken broth and an ham bone. It's Not done at home where peasants' recipes usually stay poor, but some professional chefs cooking for tourists could do it. To be fair, the soup is tastier made this way.

While I've never seen vegan gelato

Sorbettos are made without milk, so I guess they are vegan. It's just sugar, fruit and syrup.

I'll take a sorbetto, thank you!

I wasn't sure about sorbets because some are made with egg whites - or at least they did in the past.

Restaurants used to prepare lemon sorbettos with pasteurised egg white, but ice cream shops have always been worried of salmonellosi. Nevertheless It can happen, you have a point. I'd pick a better place if I knew it, but how would anyone know it? Better ask, it's "bianco d'uovo" in Italian.

These days jellies, or even locust bean gum, are cheaper and safer than the egg white. Assuming one really needs the "fluffy effect" even when serving a fruit based sorbetto out of sit-down restaurants!

Interesting point to consider. Thank you!

I believe Italy is an ideal country to eat vegan. There are many kinds of cheese in Italy, and even hard tofu can be found on the shelves of some stores (which is my favorite dish now -- I've even bought a hard tofu press recently). I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived in Italy and was told many Italians are vegetarians. In Italy, there are many plantations for growing greens for salads, olive plantations, and many others. Italian restaurants feature innumerable dishes. Also, in Italy you can find a lot of delicious vegetarian oils to be added to food. I love Italy for its rich cuisine. Good luck with your trip to Italy!

Contact the RS office shortly before the tour and ask them to let the guide know your dietary requirements. And then confirm with the guide when you first meet up.

You may want to bring some snack foods with you to nosh during the day, some cookies to have with a coffee. Reading the ingredients on packages can be time consuming, especially since they won't be in English. Anything you buy specially in the US (like non-dairy chocolate) will be hard to find.

Hi - have you taken your trip yet? I’m recently back from BOI and had loads of vegan meals on tour, including packaged cookies/snacks that were vegan. Soy cafe macchiatos almost every morning! LMK if you have any specific questions? Ciao!

Thank you so much. The trip was postponed but this is great information. Thank you!

Eat vegetarian in Italy is pretty easy, because Italy has an ancient tradition of the use of fruits and vegetables.
Eat vegan is a little more tricky, but doable without so many problem. The important is always, when possible, inform the restaurant in anticipation. If you are in a group tour be sure to give all food request when you book it and the TO and later the tour leader will inform the restaurants so they are just prepared.
In general Italian law states that any cooker has to know how to deal with food request, so know what means vegetarian, vegan, halal, jainism.... on top of food intolerances and allergies! Sound very strange that during a cooking class was the tour leader to explain what mean vegan! But unfortunately still happens...
About gelato remember that a "sorbetto" is an ice cream where is used water instead of the milk. But the wiping method is the same. The most of sorbetto are made of fruit, but even other tastes can be done without milk. Often the fruit gelatoes are in fact sorbetti, so are not listed in different groups on the menu. In any case ask to the shop and they can tell you the tastes suitable for you.