The Iceberg Project Italian

The Iceberg Project was created from a desire to travel to Italy & speak the language with ease, comfort and confidence. Now, you'll find addictive language & culture lessons for students eager to become conversational in Italian.

How to Understand Which Bills and Cents to Use with the Euro (or how to use the euro to shop for days)

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(Note: This article applies only to those who live in the US.)

So now that you learned how to count, your world has opened up with lots of numerical possibilities.

Not only can you order precisely three gelatos or confidently give someone your number, but you can pay for stuff and know you’re giving the right amount for it.

But while you know that, you still need to transition from using the dollar to using the euro, so how you can do that?

Transitioning from the Dollar to the Euro

First you’ll need to get used to using the euro, pronounced in Italian as eh-ooh-row.

Similar to the dollar, one euro is divided into 100 cents.

There are one, two, five, twenty-five and fifty cent coins.

There are also one euro and two euro coins, which can be understood as our one-dollar and two dollars in America.

There are five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, two hundred and five hundred-euro bills.

I’ve never seen a five hundred euro bill, but I bet it’s pretty awesome.

Simple, right?

Euro_coins_and_banknotesPhoto credit: Wikipedia

Here’s some money-related vocab + phrases

— I soldi / il denaro – Money

— Il resto / il cambio (still common in some parts of Italy) – Change

Example: Il resto è per lei. – The rest (change) is for you.

— Ha 10 euro da cambiarmi (in moneta)? – Do you have change for ten euros?

— La banca – Bank

Example: Dov’è la banca più vicina? – Where is the nearest bank?

— Il bancomat – ATM

Example: Dov’è il bancomat più vicino? – Where is the nearest bank?

CPF: Il bancomat is also used to mean “debit card”.

— Carta di credito – Credit card

Example: Posso pagare con la carta di credito? – Can I pay with a credit card?

— Centesimi – Cents

Example: Questi costano quindici euro e ventiquattro centesimi. – These cost fifteen euro and twenty-four cents.

Paying for Your Food in Italy

While we’re talking about money, it’s important to note that tipping 18-25% is simply not a thing in Italy.

You may notice a charge for il servizio/il coperto on your bill, which are the service charges already added to what you’re paying.

If the service you received was outstanding, you can leave a tip of 5-10%, but it is neither necessary nor expected.

On the topic of paying for your food in Italy, you’ll find that you need to ask for your bill—‘il conto’—because it won’t be brought to your table unless you ask for it.

You can sit around the restaurant all night, and it may never come.

So make sure you flag down your waiter—il cameriere—and ask nicely for il conto!

If you’re looking for some more guidance when it comes to travel tips & phrases for your next trip to Italy, take a look at the Not Your Typical Tourist Workbook.

Have any questions? Leave them in the comments below!