By Elizabeth Zoltak
Photo by Julia DeLuca
To truly immerse yourself in the Florentine culture as a study abroad student, use these common Italian phrases to order your meals at local restaurants.
Down any street, you are bound to find multiple restaurants serving an array of the most. As the heart of Italian culture and food, Florence has a little something for everyone. As the heart of Italian culture and food, Florence has a little something for everyone. Down any street, you are bound to find multiple restaurants serving an array of the most delicious Italian meals, like Bistecca alla Fiorentina or Tagliatelle al Tartufo. Wafting smells of warm bread and truffle will draw you into the restaurant from the street, but the quality of each dish will bring you back to your new favorite find again.
The charm of each trattoria, osteria and ristorante in Florence is the friendliness of its employees, who will greet you with a smile and a ‘ciao’ every time. The immediate warmth that radiates off any Italian you meet is what makes Florence a truly special place for those of us that are lucky enough to study here for a semester or longer.
This never-ending kindness translates into a strong desire to provide you with the best dining experience possible, which is occasionally expressed by a complimentary appetizer or dessert. This also means that upon realizing you may be foreign, most Italians will switch to speaking English to make sure you are comfortable. I encourage you not to default to English, and instead try your hand at some basic Italian to reciprocate the kindness you’ve received.
When you first walk into a restaurant, mirror the body language and speech of the
employee who greets you, most likely responding to their hello with a smile and a ‘Ciao’ of your own. A smile transcends all language barriers and can get you a lot farther than you may think.
Don’t forget that ‘Ciao’ is used for “hello” and also “goodbye”.
To ask for a table, all you need to say is:
“Un tavolo per…” followed by the number of people in your party. If you’ve taken a romance
language class before, you may recognize similarities in the pronunciation of numbers in Italian with one being uno, two being due, three being tre, four being quattro, five being cinque and so on.
After being seated, the real test is not deciphering the Italian menu but ordering your
meal. Luckily, there are two phrases that will help you order with ease. The simplest is saying “Vorrei…” before whichever dish you’ve selected, which translates to “I would like”.
The other, more advanced phrase is to ask “can I please have?” by pairing “Posso avere…” with the meal you want and then ending the phrase with “per favore?” (please).
Water isn’t automatically given to each table at restaurants here, so you can ask for “acqua naturale” for still water or “acqua frizzante” for sparkling water. Asking for “more” is easy with the word “ancora”. The word “basta” can be used to tell your waiter that’s “enough” when beverages are being poured. If you want to ask for an item you don’t see on the menu, I would recommend using “avete…” and then describing the dish in question.
At the end of the meal, make sure to ask for the check when you are ready to go by using
the Italian translation: “il conto”. If you happen to have leftovers you’d love to have again the next day, you can ask to take a box home by requesting “da portare via” to your waiter. As you leave, make sure to say “thank you” by pronouncing “grazie” the correct way as grà·zie, making sure to annunciate the ‘eh’ at the end.
Other phrases you may hear or find useful in your conversations, include “prego” which means “you’re welcome”. If you bump into someone accidentally on the street, “excuse me” translates to “scusa”. You can also express that you’re sorry by saying “mi dispiace”.
When I’ve been asked for directions or something else I don’t have an answer for, I like to use “non lo so” to tell them “I don’t know.”
I hope this helps you the next time you order a drink at a bar, grab fresh produce at a
mercato, or a meal at the little trattoria tucked into the corner of your street. Good luck and make sure to pass along any great Florence finds!