Italy: Part 1 Overview
My husband and I began to plan a trip to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We began looking at river cruises and then decided that though they could accommodate my dietary needs, they could not provide the variety that I was looking for. My husband and I both really appreciate great food and wine. We decided that Italy was the perfect place for our special trip. But, could they accommodate my gluten and dairy sensitivities? I had heard people come home from Italy saying that they can’t eat gluten in the US, but could in Italy. I had heard the same about dairy. I found it hard to believe.
Off we went to Italy! We worked with a travel professional to help us plan our travel and to help us schedule tours and activities while there. We wanted to see and do a lot during our trip. Our travel agent turned out to be able to plan great activities and tours, but really dropped the ball on my dietary needs. The problem was that she was part of a larger organization. She communicated my needs and attempted to follow up, but was told that everything was in order. It was not. I would have been better off finding my own experiences and/or communicating directly with the people providing those experiences. My first lesson learned! More on this in Part 3 (Sienna) ,4 (Florence) and 5 (Venice) of this blog series.
We began our trip in Rome. We spent 2 full days and nights in this beautiful city. From Rome we went to Siena in Tuscany for 2 days, Florence for 6 days and finally Venice for our last 2 days. Our trip was scheduled for late August, so when planning we had expected weather in the low 80s. Italy, however, had been experiencing a heat wave for the last 2 months so it was still in the upper 80s when we were there. We found that Italy was quite crowded this time of the year, but mostly on the weekend. Be sure to see parts 2-5 of my Italy blog series to see the details of each element of our trip! Where we stayed, what we did and our dining experiences are all there for you to get ideas for your trip to Italy!
One thing we learned very quickly about Italy is that they take their Gluten Free VERY seriously. Since many ingredients in their food traditionally contain gluten, they are very proactive about testing people of any age as soon as there are symptoms. They know all about a gluten free diet and in fact are very sensitive to ALL food allergies. The gluten free pasta below is a common sight in most stores and markets. Almost every restaurant that we went to in Italy had every item on the menu listed along with the allergens that are in that dish. It made it very easy to just look at each item and know which were free of gluten and dairy. Many restaurants also had some way to alert the wait staff that we needed gluten free. Sometimes it was a different colored place mat, others had something that they placed on our table like this gold bottle.
Italy has a Celiac Association known as AIC (Associazione Italiana Celiachia). They certify restaurants to be able to provide food that is gluten free, homemade and without any risk of contamination. You can look on restaurant windows for their certification, google which restaurants around you have the certification or download their app which is available on their website! Other restaurants we saw were not certified, but still clearly indicated that they could provide GF, DF, vegetarian and vegan options. The words “senza glutine” means without gluten. This is important to know when traveling to Italy, though we found that most people in Italy had a far better understanding of English than we did of Italian.
We also found the concierge in each hotel we stayed at to be a wonderful resource for the restaurants that would best meet our needs. The concierges that we met were all professionals who really knew the city and had contacts to be able to get us tickets/reservations wherever we wanted to go. I would highly recommend reaching out to each hotel you are planning to stay at in advance. That allowed us to explain in writing what our dietary needs were and they were able to give us a list of restaurants to research in advance. This in addition to my own research provided me with more dining options than I could possibly have taken advantage of!
As for traveling within Italy and planning tours, we utilized a travel professional in order to make our anniversary trip seamless. They hired private drivers and tour guides for all of the major sites as well as arranged travel between cities and several special experiences. In retrospect, we would have better utilized the train system in Italy between cities. It is clean, efficient and far less expensive than private drivers. The few times that we used it we found it to be a very pleasant experience. In addition to professional concierges in Italy, there are a vast number of professional tour guides. As one person told us, “the only real industry in Italy is tourism”. This is obviously an over simplification, but they take it very seriously. I did a bit of research and found websites where you can find a tour that you like and then pick your own tour guide. Many of them are incredibly well educated and speak multiple languages. One of our tour guides had a doctorate in history but chose to do this rather than teach in a school/university. Be sure to specify if you want a driver or a licensed guide. In order to become a licensed guide, candidates must pass an exam to assess their knowledge of the city/museums/historical sites and the languages that they are applying for with oral and written tests. Only licensed guides can go into the museums and historic sites to provide explanations. Drivers, however, can give you a wonderful overview of the city. We found Italy to be filled with incredibly friendly people who have a real love of life. This includes their love of fine food and wine! I can not say enough about the quality and freshness of the food and wine we enjoyed in Italy. In addition, there is so much to see and do. We found that the people take great pride in their products, be it store/business owners, wait staff in restaurants, artists, winery owners, truffle hunters and more! As an example, we went to a small chain pizza restaurant one day because it happened to be at the right place and time for us. We were having a hard time deciding on pizza toppings so the waitress offered to split the toppings on different halves of the pizza even though that was not their usual practice. As we were enjoying our pizza, she stopped by to ask how everything was. We said it was great and her reply was not “good” or even “I’m glad”, it was “Thank You” and “I’m so glad you like it”. She took ownership of our experience and it made such a difference. Most every place we went to dine in Italy felt like we were stepping into a friend’s home and eating in their dining room.
In addition to the warm welcome we received everywhere, let’s dig into the food. I began my trip adhering strictly to my GF and DF diet. Read part 2 of this series on Siena Italy to find out exactly how I realized that I could eat at least small amounts of dairy and gluten in Italy with no inflammatory response. Let’s just say that by the end of the trip I was eating anything I wanted and having NO gastric distress. I did my research. I don’t believe that there are precise answers for why I could eat whatever I wanted to in Italy. I certainly would not suggest this for anyone, like my son, who has Celiac disease or an actual allergy. However, for my personal sensitivities this was the case. What I learned is that most of the dairy used in Italy is A2 dairy and restaurants will tout their mozzarella is lactose free. That may be, but what I learned is that A2 cows produce A2 casein and lactose. These are generally much better tolerated than A1. They can be found in the US much more frequently in sheep/goat milk products. I used to react to A2 as well as A1, but having been dairy free for several years, I can apparently tolerate A2 now. I had no problem. As for the gluten, I have seen explanations including that the wheat in Italy is a less genetically modified variety, it is less processed and they do not permit the use of glyphosate (a common herbicide used frequently on wheat fields in the States). Some scientists feel that much of the rise in gluten sensitivity stems from the glyphosate as opposed to the actual gluten. All I can say is that I truly enjoyed this trip, especially the last few days in which I was eating anything I wanted to!
If you have the opportunity to travel to Italy, jump on it! Do not be afraid of traveling with dietary restrictions. Whether you find you can tolerate more in Italy as I did, or not, Italy is well prepared to accommodate your food sensitivities, allergies as well as autoimmune diseases like Celiac. As always, do your homework in advance.