{"id":11,"date":"2006-10-02T14:39:27","date_gmt":"2006-10-02T14:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/tuscany-umbria-cooking-vacation-blog\/?p=11"},"modified":"2019-04-23T23:06:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T23:06:46","slug":"avoid-ripped-tourist-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid getting ripped off as a tourist in Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p>When you are traveling, sometimes you can just feel it. You go to pay for something, and you just know that if you were a local, you would have paid a much lower price. You are an \u2018unsuspecting tourist\u2019, and they will take you for what you\u2019ve got. Here is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2006\/08\/09\/world\/europe\/09italy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-wplink-edit=\"true\">link to a New York Times article<\/a> on this subject so that you really get the point.<\/p>\n<p>So how can you avoid this? Here are some steps you can take:<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/#It_generally_only_happens_in_the_tourist_traps\" >It generally only happens in the tourist traps<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/#Food_It_is_all_about_the_menu\" >Food: It is all about the menu<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/#Must_you_really_eat_100_feet_from_the_Spanish_Steps\" >Must you really eat 100 feet from the Spanish Steps?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/#Stand_up\" >Stand up!<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/#Shopping\" >Shopping<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/#Keep_it_short\" >Keep it short<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/culture\/avoid-ripped-tourist-italy\/#Off_the_beaten_path\" >Off the beaten path<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"It_generally_only_happens_in_the_tourist_traps\"><\/span>It generally only happens in the tourist traps<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>It is really interesting to see the difference between a place that is full of tourists, and one that has limited tourism. Where you find streets full of tourists, the locals tend to bite the hand that feeds them. In places where tourism hasn\u2019t quite caught on yet, the locals welcome the tourists as guests. I\u2019ve seen tourists in Rome or Tuscany get \u2019special\u2019 menus with inflated prices, and I have seen tourists in Soriano nel Cimino get special menus with <em>lower<\/em> prices than the locals get!<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Food_It_is_all_about_the_menu\"><\/span>Food: It is all about the menu<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>You may walk into a restaurant and be handed a menu in English. What a convenience, you may think. But consider that if the place has an English-only menu, they also have a menu for Italians. There is a chance that the prices are different. Also, if the place does not have prices on the menus, beware, as they can give you any price they want.<\/p>\n<p>I remember once I was in Pompeii with some other Americans that didn\u2019t speak Italian. We went to a restaurant, and as they heard us speaking English, they handed us English menus. I glanced at it, and considering that I was accustomed to ordering in Italian, I asked (in Italian) for the Italian menu. The waiter was caught off guard, excused himself and gave me the Italian menu. It took about 30 seconds before I noticed the prices were much lower on my <em>Italian<\/em> menu than they were on the English menu.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Must_you_really_eat_100_feet_from_the_Spanish_Steps\"><\/span>Must you really eat 100 feet from the Spanish Steps?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Perhaps it is the steep rent they have to pay, or perhaps it is due to the steady flow of tourists that think the Euro is play money, but the closer you are to a major tourist attraction, the more you are going to pay for just about anything.<\/p>\n<p>I use the Spanish Steps in the title because long ago Paola and I were hungry, and we happened to be there. We went to the first place we could find, and had a cinnamon toast and a cup of tea. In today\u2019s value, we paid the equivalent of about $40.00 for 2 cups of tea and a slice of toast.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Stand_up\"><\/span>Stand up!<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>When you go to a caffe and want to order your espresso, you may have the option of being served at a table, or standing up at the bar. There is often a huge surcharge for sitting at the tables. Again, the closer you are to Tourist Central, the worse this will be.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Shopping\"><\/span>Shopping<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If you have to ask how much something costs, and you are in a touristy area, you a re probably about to be ripped off.<\/p>\n<p>Paola and I were walking in Rome once, and we spotted an Espresso machine that was so ugly, so cheap looking, that as a joke, I walked into the store and pretended to be an American that was interested in it. You have to understand that this thing was horrid, and couldn\u2019t have been worth more than $25. It was the Yugo of Espresso machines. At the time, $150 was extremely expensive for a home Espresso machine. When I asked how much it was, I was quoted $250 , which was, at the time, like saying $1,000 now.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Keep_it_short\"><\/span>Keep it short<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In a loud and crowded environment, if you stick to very few, easy to pronounce words, and you are not dressed with a straw hat and camera hanging on your neck (and that 6 carat diamond on your finger), you might not be recognized as a tourist right away. For example, if you don\u2019t stick out visually, and you walk up to a bar and quickly say in a low voice <em><strong>\u2018un caffe\u2019<\/strong> <\/em>, instead of the Learn Italian in 7 days version that would be something like \u2018<em><strong>Vorrei un caffe\u2019 per favore<\/strong><\/em>\u2018, you probably won\u2019t be noticed until you start fumbling though the Euro change to figure out which coin is which. But by that time, you have your price, and probably were not ripped off.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Off_the_beaten_path\"><\/span>Off the beaten path<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>I said this at the beginning, and will say it again. When you get away from the major tourist spots, and find yourself on the road less traveled, these problems just don\u2019t happen. The people are not bombarded by thousands of tourists a day, so you are more of a welcome guest than a quick buck. Italians are extremely hospitable people.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-auto kksr-align-left kksr-valign-bottom\"\n    data-payload='{&quot;align&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;11&quot;,&quot;slug&quot;:&quot;default&quot;,&quot;valign&quot;:&quot;bottom&quot;,&quot;ignore&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;reference&quot;:&quot;auto&quot;,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;count&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;legendonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;readonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;score&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;starsonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;best&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;gap&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;greet&quot;:&quot;Rate this post&quot;,&quot;legend&quot;:&quot;5\\\/5 - (1 vote)&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;How to avoid getting ripped off as a tourist in Italy&quot;,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;142.5&quot;,&quot;_legend&quot;:&quot;{score}\\\/{best} - ({count} {votes})&quot;,&quot;font_factor&quot;:&quot;1.25&quot;}'>\n            \n<div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 142.5px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n                \n\n<div class=\"kksr-legend\" style=\"font-size: 19.2px;\">\n            5\/5 - (1 vote)    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you are traveling, sometimes you can just feel it. You go to pay for something, and you just know that if you were a local, you would have paid a much lower price. You are an \u2018unsuspecting tourist\u2019, and they will take you for what you\u2019ve got. Here is a link to a New York Times article on this subject so that you really get the point. So how can you avoid this? Here are some steps you can take: It generally only happens in the tourist traps It is really interesting to see the difference between a place [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[17,19,21],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-locals","tag-pompeii","tag-spanish-steps"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/url1.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.culturediscovery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}