The typical organization of meals in everyday Italian life is simple but fundamental and involves so many facets
Colazione-Breakfast (difficult to say at what time,let’s say most people around 7 am)
Many Italians drink just an Espresso but a quintessential Italian breakfast is a cappuccino with a brioche or biscuits/cookies. The brioche is a type of croissant filled with jam (con marmellata),chocolate or served plain (vuota).
Some people drink tea , cereals are quite common and do not forget Nutella.
Spuntino or Merendina (around 10:30 am)
For some people this is the coffee break for other some schiacciata( kind of focaccia) with cold cuts ,for other just a fruit
Pranzo-Lunch ( North of Italy at 12:30 – South of Italy 2:30 pm)
Lunch comprises of a primo, i.e. first course that consists of pasta or rice or soup, followed by secondo piatto, i.e. second course, meat or fish or egg and a contorno, i.e. any vegetable dish or salad dish.
Bread fruit are eaten and people mostly drink water and wine. After luch a good Caffè Espresso .
Lunch is traditionally considered the main meal of the day. Nowadays this is changing a little bit in big towns but children eating at a school are still served the meal in the traditional order.
Spuntino or Merendina (around 5:30 pm)
It can be tea time or some other snack moment,but snack such as a piece of focaccia or a fruit.
Cena Dinner ( North of Italy 7 pm. In South of Italy at 10 .00 pm)
The dinner menu maybe very similar to a lunch,including a light soup and light dishes in general always with the option primo, secondo and contorno.
By a statistic Italians eat at least 3 times per week pasta,4 times per week bread such as vegetables,2 times per week meat and 1 time fish and there are still some having pasta twice per day every single day.
This is just a fast overview and we know we are not talking about many relevant facts such as the use of bread, or when to drink cappuccino,or…we’ll talk another time.
Toscana Mia Blog 