Italian Life Rules – What’s the Deal With Change?

Heard in any gelateria: “Are you sure you don’t have a one euro coin?”

In Italy, you never know when you are really going to need small bills and coins, so you hoard them. It’s part of becoming Italian.

“What’s the deal with change in Italy?” ask my touring clients after a day or two in the country. At the gelateria, the newsstand, the post office, museum, and not last nor least, the coffee bar, the customer is quizzed about the possibility of spiccioli (coins), so that no resto (change) is necessary. The person at the cash register … Read More