When sick, Italians often drink hot lemon tea with honey, chamomile tea (especially for stomach aches), or Vin Brûlé (hot mulled wine), and sometimes a small sip of strong, herbal Anisette (like Sambuca) for colds, alongside comfort foods like pastina. These remedies focus on soothing throats, aiding digestion, and warming the body.
Stracciatella. Stracciatella is Italy's version of egg-drop soup and is more of an Italian comfort food when feeling sick. If you have a stomach bug, you can bet it's stracciatella that nonna is cooking for you.
Best beverage for a cold: Water mixed with a sports drink.
“I often tell patients to mix a quarter-cup of Gatorade, Powerade or another electrolyte-rich drink into three-quarters cup of water,” says Dr. Sampino. “That gets you some salt and sugar if you're not eating, while still hydrating you.”
While wine is common, aperitivo hour is the perfect time to try a classic Italian drink, like the bitter Campari or the slightly less bitter Aperol. Both are fantastic mixed with soda, or in a slightly sweeter Spritz (sparkling wine, soda, and Campari or Aperol).
Limoncello is a sweet lemon drink with alcohol. Italians drink it after meals. They say it helps with digestion. But really, it's just a cold, sugary shot.
Mornings are reserved for milky drinks, such as a cappuccino or caffè latte, and it is often frowned upon to drink milkier beverages later in the day. After 11 a.m., Italians switch to espresso-based drinks like a simple shot of espresso or a macchiato instead of a milkier cup of coffee.
Yes, limoncello absolutely can get you drunk because it's a strong alcoholic liqueur, typically 25-30% alcohol by volume (ABV), but its sweet, lemony flavor can hide the alcohol, making it easy to overconsume if you're not careful. It's meant to be sipped slowly as a digestif, often chilled in a shot glass, but drinking it quickly or in large quantities, especially in spritzes, packs a significant punch.
The Aperol spritz may just be Italy's most famous alcoholic drink and, in some parts of the country (*cough cough* Venice), has even become synonymous with aperitivo.
To this day, aperitivo is still an integral part of Italian culture. With the right company and atmosphere, you're guaranteed a great aperitivo. Aperitivo hour is generally from 18:00 to 20:00, although it's always 6 o'clock somewhere!
If you've ever had a sip of this sweet, almost fluorescent-yellow liqueur (perhaps poured for you as a sign of thanks after a dinner in Italy?), you know that it's not like any other digestivo. After dinner or even before dinner, a nice shot of limoncello always hits the spot!
Electrolyte drinks.
If you're experiencing fever, vomiting, or diarrhea, drinks like sports drinks or coconut water can help restore lost electrolytes and keep your hydration levels balanced.
If you have a severe infection or are at high risk of complications from a flu infection, your healthcare professional may prescribe an antiviral medicine to treat the flu. These medicines can include oseltamivir (Tamiflu), baloxavir (Xofluza) and zanamivir (Relenza). You take oseltamivir and baloxavir by mouth.
Hydration: Sodas such as Sprite can replace fluids lost through vomiting and diarrhea. To avoid consuming too much sugar, people can dilute Sprite with water. Mild flavor: Intense flavors can worsen nausea. Sprite has a mild, sweet flavor that is palatable to most people.
Eating habits are also a factor. Italians who regularly consume fruits and vegetables, for example, have a significantly lower rate of overweight than those who regularly drink alcohol and consume junk food. Obese people seem to get more pleasure from shopping and are more interested in cooking.
Italian penicillin soup is essentially a basic chicken soup recipe but instead of discarding the aromatics (onion, carrots, celery, garlic) you blend them up and add them back to the stock along with tiny pasta. Italian mothers always give this to their kids 🧒 if they are coming down with colds/flu.
You Are What You Eat: Choose Foods that Boost Immunity and Fight Infection
Riposo is the Italian tradition of taking an afternoon break, typically between 1:00-4:00 PM. Shops close, restaurants pause service, and locals disappear from the streets.
It translates literally to "the stroll" and is a traditional cultural institution throughout Italy. Usually taking place in the evenings either before dinner around aperitivo time, the Italian passeggiata is a great way to get to know Sorrento better and enjoy a local pastime.
Spirits & Liqueurs in Italian Culture
Campari, Aperol, Cynar and vermouth are all popular aperitivi. In contrast, digestivi are higher-alcohol liqueurs sipped after a meal to aid digestion – think limoncello, sambuca, amaro or grappa. A new breed of spirit producers are also putting Italian gin on the map.
I found my people. Thank you @amyrrosen for this article in today's @globeandmail. There is no Diet Coke to be found in Italy either, only Coke Zero, I discovered during a three-week trip in May. The two drinks absolutely do not taste the same.
Tea is the second most widely consumed beverage in the world. It's often served with scones.
The 20-minute wine rule is a simple guideline to bring wines to their optimal serving temperature: put red wines in the fridge for about 20 minutes to cool slightly (as room temp is too warm), and take white wines out of the fridge for about 20 minutes to let them warm up a bit (as too cold masks flavors). This helps unlock the full aromas and flavors, as serving wines too hot or too cold mutes their complexity.
The "3-2-1" (or often "1-2-3") drinking rule is a guideline for moderate alcohol consumption: 1 drink per hour, no more than 2 drinks per occasion, and at least 3 alcohol-free days per week, helping to pace intake and reduce risks. It aligns with official health advice, emphasizing that the body processes only about one standard drink (e.g., 12oz beer, 5oz wine) per hour, and provides a framework for mindful drinking to avoid binge patterns and health issues, though it's a simplification of broader guidelines.
Dark drinks, like red wine and bourbon, have more congeners than light ones and there are several studies to show that for a given level of blood alcohol, dark drinks produce worse hangovers. But outside of the laboratory, the worst hangover will come from whatever causes you to drink the most.