By Lisa T. Bergren

My cousin and her husband are renting a private villa in Tuscany this Fall with three other couples and I’m drooling with envy. Sure, the villa and views will be sumptuous. But I’d kill to sink my teeth into the hand-crafted mozzarella or perfect, Roma tomatoes or spicy, local sausage or tart, dry Pecorino cheese…We love cooking in Italy! For us, it’s a part of the experience. And so is the grocery shopping.

Sending family off for the first time to Italia, I remembered some things we’ve learned over the years in shopping in Italy…that would’ve been really good to know before we went. (We’ve rented villas near Arezzo and near Montepulciano.) And with the help of a couple of other bloggers who specialize in Italy (@MyMelange) or have lived there (@WhyGoFrance—she just moved) we have some trustworthy translations too.

General Tips for Grocery Shopping:

• Many stores are closed on Sundays. Saturdays, consequently, are crazy. Try and avoid a Saturday evening stop at all costs!
• The chain stores have carts, but you have to put a coin in to get one (you get it back when you return it)
• You weigh your own produce. Find the item number, weigh your produce, print out a sticker and put it on the bag. They are not amused if you end up at checkout with unlabeled produce…
• If there are plastic gloves, wear them to feel the fruit! Otherwise the Italian mamas will scowl at you…
• Bread may be the same in some stores; take 30 seconds to watch to see what the locals are doing
• You pay a small charge for bags in most stores (and bag your own groceries); just add them to the conveyor belt
• Plan to spend more time than usual at the store. It takes time to do some intelligent guessing as to what you’re buying (unless you speak Italian) and to navigate an unfamiliar store. Embrace the experience and it’ll be fun!

English/Italian Translations for the Grocery Store

Now, translations (you may want to print and tuck into your guidebook! If you’re having trouble locating it, you can point to the word on this list when asking someone.) You can guess at a lot by the picture and placement in the store for staples like olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cereal, etc, just like you could at home—don’t be afraid. You’ll even recognize some brands, here and there. But here are some trickier things to discern:

Whole Milk: latte intero (you might have to use this for half and half, since it’s pretty nonexistent)

Lowfat milk: parzialmente scremato

Nonfat milk (warning: may be nonexistent/just lowfat): parzialmente scremato

Cream: panna (liquid);  crema (in pastry)

Butter: burro

Margarine: margarina

Sour cream: panna acida (locals say this is pretty nonexistent)

Cream cheese: formaggio cremoso

Turkey: tacchino

Ham: prosciutto cotto

Chicken: pollo

Veal: carne di vitello

Hamburger: hamburger or carne di macinato

Steak: bistecca (for grilling); spezzatino (for stew)

Pork Sausage: salsiccia

Flour: farina

Baking powder: lievito

Corn meal: polenta? grano? (We think. If you know for sure, will you please comment? We always pick it out by the box.)

Ordering Meat and Cheese

These are often sold at a separate counter. You can do a lot by pointing, smiling and gesturing to about how much you want, but here are some specifics:

They’re weighed in kilos, not pounds. So these are approximate. But if you want about:

Quarter pound: cento grammi {chen-toh grahm-mee}; un’ etto (in Rome)

Half a pound: due cento grammi {dew-ay chen-toh grahm-mee}

1 pound: mezzo chilo {mehd-zoh kee-loh}

2 pounds: un chilo {oohn kee-loh}

Your guide book can give you numbers between 1-100, but here are 3 to know:

1: uno {oon-oh}

2: due {due-a}

3: tre {tray}

Wine

Typically, you’ll be looking at reds—Chianti, Sangiovese and Brunello from Montalcino. It’s pretty hard to go wrong with a choice in Italy on any of these fronts. If you can find some help, you can ask for:

Do you have recommendations on the wine? Potrebbe raccomandare un vino per favore?  {poh-treh-bay rah-koh-mahn-dar-ey oohn veenoh pear fah-voor-ey}

Do you have a favorite? Lei ha uno che preferisce?

I’d like a dry wine. Vorrei un vino secco. {Voor-ray oohn veenoh seck-oh}

I’d like a fruity wine. Vorrei un vino fruttato.  {Voor-ay oohn veenoh fruit-aht-oh}

I’d like a spicy wine. Vorrei un vino piccante. {Voor-ray oohn veenoh pee-cahn-tay}

Coffee

You’re not likely to find a drip coffee maker in your villa, but you are likely to find a small, aluminum pot that you put on the stove (fill bottom with grounds, top with water and boil). This is their version of an espresso machine. If you can’t do espresso straight up, you can brew it and then add cream and sugar to get your caffeine dosage for the day. According to tweeps like @casinadirosa and @NapoliUnplugged, the best brands of espresso to buy is Illy, Lavazza or Kimbo.

Pizza

Our favorite thing to cook in Italy? Pizza. If you have a pizza oven or a pizza stone in your villa, go for it! We wrote about how to operate a wood-fired pizza oven (see box near pic of Tim with oven), and our favorite combinations on the pie… And the stores sell frozen pizza dough, which makes it especially easy. Just sprinkle cornmeal on the stone before you put down the crust.

Enjoy the experience of shopping with the locals! Remember to smile, have an easy-going attitude and leave with a “grazie.” They’ll welcome you back to shop again.

Heading to a MARKET on the street? Check out this article from Jessica at WhyGo Italy (@italylogue on Twitter). Lots of good info in it, specifically related to street markets.

Have other tips to add? Please, add yours in the comments below!