10 Italian Cliches You Won't Find in Italy

1. Caesar Salad

The most famous salad served in almost every Italian restaurant in the U.S. is actually not Italian at all, but indeed very American. Until a few years ago asking for parmesan cheese and croutons on a salad in Italy would have meant asking for trouble and to be laughed at. In recent years, however, with globalization and more international menus offered in Italian restaurants, some places have begun to offer it. Don't be fooled if you see "Insalata Cesare" on your menu as it still remains an imitation of the American dish.

Caesar Salad

2. Rolling Spaghetti with a Spoon

Italians NEVER  roll their spaghetti using a spoon; those who do it are considered rude, bad mannered and very basic in their habits. The same thing applies to cutting long pasta with a knife. Regardless of what you might have seen or heard on this regard, simply don't do it. If you're having trouble rolling your pasta using your fork only just set the tines on your plate to help you.

3. Salad As Appetizer

In Italy a salad is served as a side dish with the second course and never before the first course, therefore asking a salad as an appetizer is not common at all and often seen as strange. Italians use salad to cleanse the palate after eating the majority of their meal.

Ordering Pizza

4. Pasta and Meat on the Same Plate

Regardless of the level of the restaurant or the simplicity of your host, Italians never put two courses on the same plate. Pasta is one thing, meat, chicken, meatballs are another. You will never see them mixed. Also a good pasta dish doesn't have a very juicy sauce, the pasta is supposed to be colored by the sauce, not immersed and floating in it. This is a very different attitude from other European countries, where it's easier, if not even normal, to mix rice or pasta and meat. Spaghetti and meatballs served together? Forget it. While spaghetti and meatballs is one of the most popular Italian-American dishes it is actually almost extinct now in Italy. The dish can only be found in some areas, touristic places and towns that celebrate this traditional dish during a festival. Basically anybody ordering it outside these festivals will be immediately recognized as a foreigner. So if you really crave your pasta and meatball you may be lucky and find it but be warned: in ordering it you will not blend with the locals, but stand out as a tourist.

An Italian Nono : Pasta and Meat on the same plate

5. Cappuccino After a Meal

In Italy cappuccino is seen as a breakfast drink; after noon no true Italian would ever drink it. It is simply impossible to see an Italian ordering a cappuccino after a full meal, therefore if your order it in a restaurant or at night, be prepared to receive a shocked face from your waiter. Italians prefer a straight espresso to help with digestion.

6. Oil and Butter with Bread in a Restaurant

Although the combination oil, butter, and bread is very common and very Italian, it is not an Italian custom to eat them in a restaurant or at home during a formal meal. Restaurants will never put butter on the table or a center little plate filled with olive oil to dip in. These are usually considered midday snacks, therefore requesting them at a restaurant would be a very American thing to do.

whole wheat penne pasta

7. Italians Eat Pasta Every Day

While pasta is a popular dish many Italians prefer to replace it with rice, minestrone, soups and so forth. Also the Italian diet is usually heavy in meat and fish as well.

An Appetizer Salad

8. Italians Eat Big Dinners

In most cases Italians eat heavier at lunch than at dinner, which is typically taken later than the early evening time of most Americans.

9. Couples Sitting Side By Side

While it's true that Italy is a country of love and lovers you won't often find an Italian couple nestled together in a booth at a restaurant. Eating in Italy is a social event so people prefer to be seated face to face. On a group outing or a double date a couple would rarely sit next to one another allowing for more mingling.

10. Italians Have Large Families

Italian families with six to eight children are a thing of the past for the most part. Italians not only get married later than Americans in many parts of the United States, they also have the lowest birth rate in the world and the population is actually shrinking. Divorce is also on the rise in Italy and people often don't start families until they're well into their 30s. For a nation that has long based itself on traditions of home and family this is certainly a problem that has raised concerns.