House wines are almost always drinkable and inexpensive. Most trattorie would not be caught dead serving poor wine. You may often find a bottle of wine on the table for you. Believe it or not: this bottle will be less expensive than a glass would be in the US or UK, possibly only €4 or €5. This does not always apply to those places that look really tourist-trap-like! Slightly better quality wines are usually sold at a relatively small mark-up on shop prices. Most Romans drink water with their meals. In restaurants it normally comes in 1 litre bottles and can be had normale (still water) or gassata (carbonated water).
Water is free at designated water fountains, called "nasone" (big nose). Some of these date back to ancient times, and the water is still very good. It's fresh spring water coming from the famous underground springs of Rome and is safe to drink. If you carry an empty bottle, fill it up for the rest of the day. Look for the drinking fountain with constant running water, plug the bottom hole, and cool water will shoot up from a smaller hole on top of the tap. Don't put your lips round the hole at the bottom, as stray dogs tend to like to get a drink.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Rome
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Rome - updated Apr 2024
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Rome Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
