Lots of you potential travelers are searching to see if you can find the cost of food in Italy. Food in Italy – Is it expensive? is one of our most popular posts (second to the topless at the docks in Tellero post, of course).
Anyway, here’s a picture of a chalkboard menu I took in one of my favorite towns near my place in Italy, Sarzana. The place is filled with great restaurants, by the way. The menu below is from a little trattoria/gelateria in the main piazza, quite a pleasant place to hang out on a summer evening.
Let’s see, you’ve got your cold pasta with seafood for 6 Euros—about $9, but remember that the price includes taxes and service.
You can get the Lunigiana regional specialty testaroli with pesto for 5.20, and gnocchi for 5.50.
But you might like just a second, or meat course. You can get a slab of roasted meat with potatoes for 6.50, or some rabbit with olives and peppers for the same price. 6 Euros will get you a chicken leg with potatoes. Deserts are 2.50, or $3.75. A glass of wine, not on this menu, is likely to cost you less than $2.
So that should give you some idea of what prices were at an inexpensive restaurant at lunch time in Liguria.
If you’d like to go at a very special time to Sarzana, try the the Acoustic Guitar Meeting at the end of May. It’s held in the castle right in town.
Update on Sarzana: In the process of searching for Sarzana info, I came across this great slide show from the Napoleon Festival 2007