Traditional Italian food is known for its wonderful recipes and wines, but often a significant part of it is hidden or even unseen.

This side is what it means to eat for Italians. It’s not just eating, it means so much more.

If you are in one of the main Italian cities, you may find some stores with continuous opening hours. But most close from 1 to 4:30 p.m. The Italians stop for lunch.

Life has also changed in Italy, not allowing everyone to go home for lunch and maybe even to rest. But most of the public offices close at 14:00 and the ones that work from 9 to 5 have lunch time, where people go to restaurants and eat for real.

I went to meet a friend who works in a bank office in Rome and we had lunch together. She suggests a small family restaurant (trattoria) where i ate wonderful potato gnocchi and unforgettable artichokes with potatoes). A real lunch, perhaps served in fancy Italian restaurants abroad, during a lunch break at work.

This idea leads to another interesting fact about restaurants in Italy and Italian restaurants abroad.

Usually Italian restaurants abroad are good and sometimes fancy restaurants. Very well decorated and often a very pleasant atmosphere, often linked to the fashions of society.

In Italy, luxury and “vibe” are secondary. Often an Italian friend takes you to a very good restaurant and it looks very poorly decorated. Don’t worry, he cares about you, because… you eat wonderful food, and that’s what’s important to your friend.

He doesn’t think about taking you to a trendy place where the food is not good. I would miss you, and for an Italian, it hurts.

There are so many restaurants in Italy that are boxy spoiled rooms that really aren’t inviting…but their food is wonderful. They just don’t consider the decor, but what you are going to eat.

In Italy, dining out is also a social program, as in the whole world. But what you eat has a bigger role in the whole evening.

Among other cultures, the food can be average, and people talk about other things and have a good evening.

In Italy, they can be the nicest people, but if the food is not good, they will feel that the evening was a bit wasted because of it. They will talk about it, they will comment on it, showing that the food is not just part of the night, but the main attraction.

Another aspect of the tradition in Italian food is to eat at certain times, following an established order in eating (never eat a meat dish before a pasta dish, for example), and some other small but present rules.

As for the schedule, Italians have lunch from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Most restaurants close at 2:30 p.m. It is frustrating for a tourist visiting Rome, for example, to find the restaurant closed at 3pm.

Now some restaurants are offering different hours, but these are the tourist restaurants, not the good ones. These keep the pasta cooked and reheat it. It is better not to trust them if you want a good homemade Italian dish.

A traditional Italian meal begins with the antipasto (which means before the meal). Usually it is “of land” (di terra) or “of sea” (di mare). The ground ones are usually Italian cold cuts, olives, cheeses, etc. The sea ones are seafood salad and the like.

After the antipasto comes the first course, which can be pasta, soup or rice (risotto). Then there is the second, in which you can choose between meat and fish. It is necessary to add a side, because in Italy they are not included. If you order a steak, it will come on its own, with no fries or salad.

After that, you can have fruit and a dessert. Then a good coffee and a liquor called “ammazza caffe” (to kill the coffee). It can range from many options, the most commonly used today being lemon liqueur (limoncello) and grappa.

At this point, your Italian friend seems satisfied. He will probably lean his shoulders back in the chair and take a deep breath. After a perfect meal, these few minutes to enjoy it all are necessary.