Beverages in Italy- Water

One of my first pet peeves with Italian culture was how water is distributed. First off, if you ask for water, or aqua as it is said in Italian, you will need to specify that you would like aqua naturale if you want to drink the water you are used to. If you don’t make that distinction, you are likely to get some kind of frizzy mineral water. The second problem I have with water in Italy is that when you are at a restaurant and order water thinking that you will have a nice cold free beverage, they bring you out a big bottle of water costing 4 Euro. You can try to ask for tap water, in the times that I have tried, they often don’t understand you and you get the 4 Euro bottle anyway. This is one slightly positive side of water in Rome; the public water fountains. It is not uncommon to find a small water fountain sticking out of the sidewalk or out of the side of a building. This provides a good opportunity to fill up a water bottle, especially on hot summer days.