Cash is King

Americans are used to paying for nearly everything with credit or debit cards. We certainly were, before we moved to Italy. We didn’t carry credit card debt, but we used the cards for EVERYTHING so we could get the rewards points. It was also our habit not to carry cash, which felt much safer in general. 

So our daily routine changed a lot when we moved to Italy, where cash is king. Now we both are in the habit of carrying cash, and most importantly, coins. 

HOTELS/B&Bs 

Nearly every hotel and B&B will take credit cards, with the exception of American Express. (American Express is not accepted by many businesses because the fees are so high, so if this is the card you plan to use, be sure you have a backup.)

BARS

A law recently passed in Italy saying that every establishment must accept credit cards, but don’t count on that to mean that you can, or should. We have never seen anyone pay for a drink or a coffee with a credit card. (This may be different in large towns; we focus on small towns in our travel.) 

Furthermore, when buying just an espresso, that would only cost €1, it’s nice to pay with the smallest bill or coin possible. Italians have a deep and abiding love of exact change. If you try to pay for a €1 coffee with a €50, well… that is not advisable. It’s also quite likely that bars in very small towns won’t even have change to give you!

RESTAURANTS

Honestly we can only think of a couple of places that only take cash, and they usually have that pretty well indicated. However, if you are unsure at all, it’s always good to ask before you order. 

GROCERY STORES/FOOD MARKETS

At chain grocery stores, like Coop, Conad, Carrefour, Lidl, Todis, and similar, you can always pay with a card. But in the independently owned shops like butcher, baker, fruit/veg vendor, wine merchant, you definitely can’t count on paying with a card. They may have the service, but it could be down at the moment; so in general for this you should plan to pay cash. 

PARKING

Most parking meters these days take credit cards, and there are also some apps for your phone you can use! But in our experience, we have found that the credit card reader doesn’t always work, so we keep a little coin purse of coins in our car just in case. We want to spend exactly zero minutes hunting for parking, and would be very annoyed to have to give up a space because we couldn’t use a credit card. 

TOLL MACHINES

On the Autostrada, tolls can be paid easily with a credit card (aim for the “Carte” lanes, marked blue), no matter the amount. But now and then you might encounter a toll machine that doesn’t cooperate - maybe your card is unreadable, or the machine itself is faulty. In this case it’s good to have a handful of change and small bills - though in this case you may need to reverse and move to one of the cash lanes. (When possible, you can take the lanes that take both cash and cards.)

KEEPING THOSE SMALL BILLS HANDY

Bank machines love to give you your withdrawal in €20, €50, and €100 notes. Why, bank machines? WHY?!?!

The best notes to have are fives and tens, and always a pocketful of €1 and €2 coins. Just do your best to whittle down those €50 note bills to smaller, more manageable bills and coins. A little thought paid to this each day is well worth the effort.