Most Italians start their day in a bar, their breakfast consisting of a coffee with hot milk ( cappuccino ) and a brioche or cornetto – a jam-, custard- or chocolate-filled croissant, which you usually help yourself to from the counter and take standing at the bar. Breakfast in a hotel ( prima colazione ) is often a limp affair of bread and processed meats, often not worth the price.At other times of the day, sandwiches ( panini ) can be pretty substantial, a bread stick or roll packed with any number of fillings. A sandwich bar ( paninoteca ) in larger towns and cities, and in smaller places a grocer’s shop ( alimentari ) will normally make you up whatever you want; you’ll pay £3000-5000/¬1.55-2.58 each. Bars may also offer tramezzini , ready-made sliced white bread with mixed fillings – less appetizing than the average panino but still tasty and slightly cheaper at around £3000/¬1.55 a time. Toasted sandwiches ( toast ) are common, too: in a paninoteca you can get whatever you want toasted; in ordinary bars it’s more likely to be a variation on cheese or ham with tomato.

If you want hot takeaway food there are a number of options. It’s doable to find slices of pizza ( pizza rustica or pizza al taglio ) pretty much everywhere, and you can get most of the things already mentioned, plus pasta, chips, even full hot meals, in a távola calda , a sort of stand-up snack bar that’s at its best in the morning when everything is fresh. Some are self-service and have limited seating, too. The bigger towns have these, and there’s often one inside larger train stations. Another alternative is a rosticceria , where the speciality is spit-roast chicken but other fast foods such as slices of pizza, chips and hamburgers, or stuffed roasted vegetables, are also often served.

Other sources of quick snacks are markets , some of which sell takeaway food from stalls, including focacce – oven-baked pastries topped with cheese or tomato or filled with spinach, fried offal or meat – and arancini or supplì – deep-fried balls of rice with meat ( rosso ) or butter and cheese ( bianco ) filling. Supermarkets , also, are an obvious stop for a picnic lunch: the major department store chains, Upim and Standa, often have food halls.

Italian ice cream ( gelato ) is justifiably famous: a cone ( un cono ) is an indispensable accessory to the evening passeggiata. Most bars have a evenhandedly good selection, but for real choice go to a gelateria , where the range is a tribute to the Italian imagination and flair for display. You’ll sometimes have to go by appearance rather than attempting to decipher their exotic names, many of which don’t even mean much to Italians: often the basics – chocolate and strawberry – are best. There’s no problem locating the finest gelateria in town – it’s the one that draws the crowds – and we’ve noted the really special places throughout the Guide. If in doubt, go for the places that make their own cover cream, denoted by the sign “Produzione Propria” outside.