How to Order Coffee and Other Unusual Things You Need to Know About Italy

Italy will hold uncertain parliamentary elections on Sunday, and their outcome could again provoke instability in a government that seems to have become the norm in that country. However, regardless of the current elections, it is good to know five unusual things about the popular “boot.”

How to order coffee?

Ordering coffee, when it comes to a larger group of guests in a café, is usually a real challenge for the bartender because almost everyone has their version of their favorite drink.

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A good bartender will equally know how to prepare “caffe lungo” – long coffee, “caffe ristretto” – short coffee, “caffe coretto” – coffee with liqueur, “caffe macchiato” – coffee with a little warm foamed milk, “caffe marocchino” – a type of cappuccino served in a small glass cup and sprinkled with cocoa powder (the drink is characteristic of the area around Milan), “caffe salentino” – coffee with 6 to 7 ice cubes and almond milk served in a glass cup, “caffe con panna” – coffee with whipped cream, “caffe doppio” – ‘double’ coffee, “caffe schiumato” – coffee with milk foam made under steam and served in a glass cup…

The choice is indeed vast, and one should also consider the type of cup or glass in which the coffee is served due to the speed at which it cools.

If you order just “coffee” from the bartender, which note bene does exist, do not be surprised if he politely waits until you precisely explain what kind of coffee you want.

Mickey, Donald, and Benito

To the disappointment of language purists, Italians gladly insert anglicisms into their conversations. However, it was not always so. The fascist leader Benito Mussolini sought to ‘cleanse’ the Italian language of foreign words and imposed the Italianization of surnames and place names. He went so far as to ban all foreign terms in the Italian language from 1940.

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Thus, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong became Beniamino Buonuomo and Luigi Bracccioforte, but after the defeat of the Italian fascists, their original names ‘returned.’ Sandwiches are still “tramezzini,” and Italians are probably the only ones in the world who have never used the original names of Disney characters Mickey and Donald. They are still known in Italy as Topolino and Paperino.

New Year’s Celebration

The New Year’s celebration in Italy is very similar to all other celebrations in the world with sparkling wine, confetti, and increasingly more firecrackers as you approach the south of the country. However, the Italian custom dictates entering the new year by breaking an old object, most often ceramic dishes.

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It is an unwritten rule that to enter the new year, in order to be as happy as possible in love, you should wear red underwear. It is not precisely known whether the custom originates from ancient Rome or is connected to Chinese heritage. Shortly after Christmas, shop windows are filled with red underwear and lace. And on January 1, it is mandatory to consume lentil soup with ‘cotechino’ to ensure that the upcoming year is full of money.

Superstition and Gambling

In a country with many superstitions where even educated people do not walk under ladders or avoid continuing their movement if a black cat crosses their path, participants in gambling practice an infallible technique to determine which numbers to play – the so-called “smorfia” or numerology based on a dream dictionary.

The name “smorfia” allegedly comes from the name of Morpheus, the god of dreams in ancient Greece, and the most famous is the Neapolitan “smorfia.”

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In every “smorfia,” a specific word, object, event, or person represents one or more numbers. It is a fairly precise code that gives different numbers depending on the type of sport or game of chance.

Did you dream of flowers, breasts, a church, a hunter, music, fear, or a hat? Each concept is associated with a number from 1 to 90. The Lottomatica website provides special guidelines; you just need to decide on the classic or Neapolitan “smorfia” and discover your dreams, and the site will suggest numbers for you.

Clichés Die Hard

Yes, Italians gesture…, often and a lot, using their hands, and in this way, they communicate very well. They have perfected non-verbal coded communication with their hands.

One of the clichés is that Italians consume pasta almost daily. Pasta arrived on Italian soil from Mesopotamia and China. Initially, it was eaten without any additions, but after the tomato sauce arrived from South America in the 16th century, Italians created a rhapsody of flavors from dough with sauce.

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According to the Association for the Italian Pasta and Confectionery Industry, the average person consumes 26 kilograms of pasta annually.

When it comes to pizza, Italians have been overtaken by Americans, who consume 13 kilograms of this dish per person annually compared to 7.3 kilograms eaten by the average Italian.

In the case of ice cream, New Zealanders are the absolute champions, consuming an average of 27 liters per person annually compared to 12 in Italy.