A new an unexpected complication has been caused by my newfound skills of ordering food in Italian at bars. In Rome, the bars are so busy that you get exactly what you asked for, nothing more nothing less. This is especially true in the student area where I live. "Un caffe" means one espresso, the cashier is not going to double check and you will pay for what you ordered.
On the other hand, when you are in Assisi and the place is crawling wish British, American and German tourist this is not always the case. In two different bars, the servers double checked that I really knew what I meant. In the second case, the woman behind the counter had already pulled out a large mug and was ready to make me a cappuccino or latte. It usually went like this:
Me: un caffe
Them: caffe?
Me: ci, ci, un caffe
Them: espresso? you want an espresso?
I can only imagine the large number of tourist that do not understand that caffe means espresso. Alternatively, I can also see Americans ordering "un Coffee" and getting the beverage (espresso) that sounds the closest to what they really wanted.
By the way, I have yet to see a Starbuck in Italy. Pictures and stores from Assisi and Bologna are forthcoming.
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