The
Italian aperitif drinks
attracted me since my first visit in Italy. The plesant habit of going to the bar to have something to drink while socializing is typical of all Italians.
We cannot ignore how much the beer became more and more popular in Italy. After wine, it's the most used drink now.
When I came to live in Italy, 25 years ago, people used to drink Martini, whisky and other alcoholic drinks. Now beer is consumed everyday by everyone. There are even some good Italian brands of beer, as Peroni, for example. It gained an important position between Italian drinks.
Habits & liquors
There's another Italian "habit" about drinks: to have an alcoholic drink after a meal. It's called ammazza-caffè which means "kill coffee", as it is served after coffee and is supposed to hel the digestion process. One of the most common is the
limoncello liquor.
In Italy water is considered potable quite everywhere. But in many small and big cities people just don't drink it because it has much chroline or is too chalky.
If you visit Italy and happens to be in front of a supermarket, you'll see how many people come out with their water pack.
Some bottled waters became famous abroad, as San Pellegrino mineral water. Roma has a very good water, the one that flows from the fontains and from the taps; but if you, as a tourist, doesn't know that, the waiter will bring you the Roman bottled water - Ferrarelle.
It's a little sparkling, but if you say it to the waiter, he'll promptly answer: "It's natural!".It only means that it has no added carbon dioxide.
By the way, the Italian law stablishes that if you ask for a glass of water and have water from the tap, it cannot be charged.
Maybe because people don't know
Italian water is good to drink
, or maybe because the bars want to sell a product, the fact is that if you do not specify that you want just a glass of water from the tap, they will give you a glass of mineral water, to which you'll have to pay for.
