There is no minimum drinking age in Italy! But when it comes up to food Italians do have eating rules! Following are some interesting rules you might want to follow if you visit the ever-hospitable Italy: - Lunch / Dinner Order of Courses: - Appetizers - Pasta - Salad - Cheese - Fruit - Sweets and coffee - Ammazzacaffe

Breakfast

In Italy, Cappuccino and Brioches are one of the few 'legal' options. Maybe you could have yogurt. Probably having tea is pushing it too far.

Lunch and Dinner

• No butter will be served to spread on your bread.
• What about dipping bread in oil? There's no harm with this in the course of a meal, but the bread-oil routine is not used as an appetizer in Italy. It has a tendency to fill you up and diminish your enjoyment of the meal.
• No bread should be eaten together with pasta - this is a major no-no. Generally we make fresh bread when guests come; however, according to Italians serving hot fresh bread is what Barbarians would do. Resolve to serve bread only after pasta is gone from the table.
• Have mineral water and or wine with your meal. Forget sodas or milk unless you are a teenager or a small child. An exception can be made if you are eating pizza at lunch time.
• The Italian main meal is traditionally multi-course: restaurants like to serve you first and second plates, perhaps third plates. Italian portion sizes are smaller is a relatively healthy balance. Traditionally, grated cheese is not added to meals. These rules have eroded somewhat, but you may still get a strange look if you ask for it.
• Coffee may be drunk with fruit or dessert but never with the main meal. In addition, traditionally coffees with milk (capuccinos and lattes) are for breakfast only. Lunch and dinner are followed by espressos, or, at most an espresso macchiato.
• Contrary to the perception of some, cinnamon does NOT go on capuccinos or lattes. Chocolate/cocoa or whipped cream does. Go with the flow on this one, you'll have fun.
• If you are eating at someone's home, there is still an expectation that you will eat everything on your plate. Again, this has changed somewhat over time, but leaving large amounts of food is still considered an insult to the cook. But watch out for the clean plate problem: cleaning your plate too quickly can cause the home chef to refill it and expect another clean plate. Pace yourself!
• Picking out the healthy food? Italians really object picking out the healthy vegetables and leaving them on the sides of the plate. Come on - try them! Italians are very good at cooking vegetables and you might actually like it.
• Salad dressing: Italians use oil and vinegar so do not expect ranch, thousand island, or, worse yet "Italian" salad dressing.
• Spaghetti: Italians never cut their spaghetti. Well, Italians have been eating spaghetti all their life, they should be able to roll it up on their fork easily. Once upon a time the use of the spoon was common. However, it is not used anymore - the spoon is definitely out of fashion now.
• Wine: White wine is traditionally chilled, red wine is traditionally not chilled.

(source: www.lifeinitaly.com)