I understand that whenever a hotel, B&B or convent says breakfast is included, it usually means a roll, jam and coffee. I'm really partial to big breakfasts, though not necessarily the classic American kind. If one goes into an Italian restaurant at 7-8am what is likely to be on the menu? Just rolls and coffee? If I really can't get a big breakfast unless I make it myself, that might tip the balance toward renting an apartment. Thanks for you help!

In my experience, most 3 star-and-up hotels in Italy offer a buffet breakfast with lots of selection: breads, rolls, brioches, cereals, yogurt, fruit, juices, milk, coffee and tea. However you don't usually find cooked breakfasts such as bacon and eggs. If in doubt, ask the hotel when making your reservation.
- Marie

Lindy, Italians generally don't eat what Americans think of as a full breakfast with hot meats, eggs, pancakes, etc. In some hotels you can order specially some eggs, but the concept just isn't there. Breakfast in Italy is some variation of coffee (espresso (caffe' normale), capuccino, caffe latte, etc), sometimes delicious pastries, maybe a bowl of apples or bananas. Places which cater to northern Europeans may have platters of cold meats & cheese, fruit compotes (usually prunes & apricots), sometimes yogurt or cold cereal. If you want a hefty breakfast with hot stuff, better to rent a villa or apartment & buy the groceries to make your own, which is a fun adventure, anyway. Note that the eggs you will buy are usually not refrigerated but are generally "younger" than the ones we get. Smoked bacon is available in the coolers; most pancetta or what looks like bacon in Italy is not smoked (look for "affumicata"). Orange juice is easy to find (we usually buy the fresh, so I don't know about frozen concentrate); there are lots of watered-down juices, look for 100% succo di arancia. Marmelades and honeys are wonderful. Butter is wonderful! On the days when you want to eat the Italian way, go to the nearest bar (coffee bar) and have a delicious capuccino & pastry. Then stop around 10-11 and have another to tide you over until lunch

I think it really depends on the hotel. In both Bellagio and Venice (Hotel Florence and Locanda Orseolo respectively) we had eggs/omelettes and other cooked stuff at the breakfast buffet. In Florence at Hotel Globus we did not. If you need that info email your hotel directly.

jan

I was in Rome for a year of college 1977-1978. Every couple of weeks we would breakfast at the Piccadilly because it was the only place we knew of for pancakes, waffles, other American breakfasts. Alas, after an extensive search, it seems to no longer exist. But I did find this:

Il Giardo dell'Uliveto dell'Hotel Cavalieri Hilton: Eggs, waffles, pancakes, French toast, bacon, orange juice and coffee, just as in the U.S. Daily 7 am-12:30 pm. $. Via Cadlolo 101 (atop Monte Mario, overlooking St. Peter's), phone 06-35091.

The need for an American breakfast was fleeting, though. And I would guess, that as a tourist, the cafe latte and coronetto would suffice in the short term.

Geralyn

All the hotels I've stayed at in Italy have had breakfast buffets, with coffee, cornetti and various rolls, preserves, cheese and fruit. Many have had sliced meats. Also most have dry cereal and milk and yogurt. IF the hotel has a restaurant, there is a possibility for eggs cooked various ways, at additional charge. But, as someone else said, you should check with your hotel.

M

This from a new booklet called "Little Black Book- Rome"
Magnolia, Campo de' Fiori 4,5; 06 68309367
"Magnolia has a great American breakfast every single day, and a lengthy menu with amazing sandwiches...."
And if you're near the Colosseum, try...
Cafe Cafe, via de S.S. Quatro, 44; 06 7008743
"Country-kitchen atmosphere complete with homemade biscuits, shakes, coffee drinks, and herbal teas...."
I popped into Cafe Cafe last year, about noon, and they seemed to have a full-bore breakfast thing happening. Kind of a hip place, very comfortable.
Yrs, Robert

There's a cafe in or near Piazza Barberini that advertised an American breakfast.

THanks so much to all of you!

We stayed in Venice, Florence, Siena, and Rome at 4* hotels last year. All had very large breakfast buffets. There was plenty of familiar American selection: coffee, OJ, eggs, toast, and plenty of new choices,too.

Most of us italian don't perceive the breakfsat as a meal at all. It's mostly considered just a snack to start the day with. Also, most Italian split the sweet and the salted stuff in two groups and don't usually eat them toghether in the same meal (except on special days, when we have bigger meals). To put this into practice, our daily food is usually split into two meals (lunch and dinner) that usually don't include a dessert and one or two snacks (breakfast and often a mid-afternoon "merenda") that are usually enterely composed of sweet stuff. A traditional breafast here is a mug (or large cup) of caffelatte, or just a cup of coffee, with a few bisquits or a slice of bread lightly coated with butter and marmelade or honey (and often some fruit); if you chose to have breakfast at the bar, you can have a cappuccino with a brioche, also called cornetto. THis works fine for us because we also usually have rather lange lunches: in some cases you can expect the full three "regular" courses: a primo of pasta, rice or vegetable soup (often enriched with some pasta or rice) and a secondo of meat or fish with a vegetable side dish; more often people skip either the primo or the secondo and have just a dish of pasta with some vegetables or a secondo with vegetables; most people finish the meal off with some fruit. The evening more or less follows the same pattern: you can skip the "merenda" and have dinner quite early, or have a small merenda and a later dinner that more or less follows the same pattern as the lunch (although in some families the soup is a traditional evening primo, while some others tend to have a lighter dinner than the lunch).

Beside finding a larger array of breakfast foods in top-end hotels, you can also talk in advance to your B&B owner asking if he or she can fix you a larger breakfast with eggs and something else. Most places will happily do for a couple euro extra. Yet, in such a case, be prepared to meet the disgusted stares of the Italian guests that, for the most part, can't get the idea of someone wanting to eat that stuff early in the morning (the smell of a frying egg before noon can give my stomach a hard time!).
You also ask for the resturants: well, if you try to walk into a resturant at 9 AM all you will find is a closed door. Restaurants serve meals, not snacks, so they don't open before noon, for the first meal opf the day. if you are in need of a breakfast early in the morning, your only option is the bars, which can't serve cooked food.

For English breakfasts, there's Babington's Tea Room next to the Spanish Steps in Rome.

quote:

Originally posted by Alice Twain:


if you are in need of a breakfast early in the morning, your only option is the bars, which can't serve cooked food.

The other option, which I believe the original poster mentioned, is to rent and prepare your own big breakfast. I am with you on the small breakfast, Alice. An espresso and croissant (or a kiefer in Venice) is all we want. At home I squeeze fresh juice every morning; in Venice with no juicer, we eat some fresh fruit. If I eat more than that, I feel tired and logy all morning, and just as hungry at lunch. We normally have lunch in the apartment and have either some sort of meat and a salad or pasta and a salad. Most nights we eat out - for the sake of research, of course.When it is convenient to do the reverse - lunch out dinner in - we do, and this winter when we were both sick so much, we ate all our meals in on several days. A big advantage of renting for us is that we can eat when and how we want to eat. Ruth