Is water free in Italy restaurants?

Not so, as you should never ask for free tap water in restaurants. As Fodors explains, usually, you'll be offered a bottle of still (naturaleor liscia) or sparkling (frizzante or gassata). You might occasionally be offered filtered — but you'll still be expected to pay for it.



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Rome's nasoni fountains provide free fresh drinking water. Rome is blessed with more than 2,500 drinking fountains, known as nasoni, which provide residents and visitors with free fresh water all year round.

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Some guides advise bringing one with you from home. But plastic water bottles work just as well, and they're sold in every cafe in Italy. Buy one when you're here and just keep refilling it at the fountains you'll see everywhere.

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The short answer is yes. Drinking water from the tap in Italy is considered safe. Tap water in the major cities and towns around Italy is safe for consumption, and there are thousands of old-style water fountains dotted around cities, like Rome, where you can fill up water bottles.

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If you ask locals “Do you tip in Italy?”, they'll explain that while they sometimes leave a small tip, it's generally not necessary. In Italy, gratuity (or una mancia, pronounced oo-nah MAN-chah) is considered a bonus for exceptional service. And it's not often that you'll find a tip jar at a register.

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Tipping at restaurants and cafés depends on the service Unlike the United States, waitstaff in Italy are paid a living wage, and tips do not make up the majority of their income. Go ahead and follow their custom or, if you think the service was great and you want to leave more, feel free to do so.

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In Italy, cash is still preferred in most restaurants, cafes and other establishments, although credit and debit cards are becoming more widely used throughout Italy and are an increasingly convenient way to pay for things. Visa and Mastercard are widely accepted, although American Express is not.

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Ireland is one of only two countries in the world (Turkmenistan is the other) that provide free water to residents, according to Global Water Intelligence, a British research outfit.

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