Before I left for Italy I read something in a guidebook about unsuspecting tourists paying €10 for a gelato. I couldn’t imagine why anyone would ever pay that much. These were obviously people who didn’t care if they wasted money. I was certain there was no way I would ever do anything like that. Unfortunately the guidebook author didn’t say HOW these poor tourists ended up paying so much. I assumed they just thought that was the regular price and weren’t smart enough to get off the tourist track to find something cheaper.
My name is Christy and I paid €7 for a gelato. This is my story.
We ate gelato every day while we were in Italy. (Sometimes more than once.) We always got a small because we wanted to save room for other treats. Even in the busy tourist areas a small cone or cup cost €1.50 – €3 each.
One afternoon in Florence we walked into a gelato shop and immediately the girls behind the counter started rushing us to place our orders. I looked at the board behind the counter with prices, saw that a small cup was €3, and said I wanted a piccolo cup. (piccolo means small in Italian) The girl taking my order picked up the smallest cup on the counter, said something in Italian, and I said – “Yes, piccolo. Piccolo.”
While she was scooping my gelato the others in my group started placing their orders. My daughter was the last to order and apparently noticed a few things while she was waiting for her turn. The cones on the counter were sugar cones and she knew that typically she received something smaller, made out of the same stuff our American cake cones are made out of. When she said she wanted a small cone, and the server reached for the smallest sugar cone on the counter, my daughter insisted that no, she wanted a small cone. Finally, after several attempt to get my daughter to accept the sugar cone, the server relented and took a small cone from the counter behind her.
It was at that point that the rest of us realized that we weren’t given the small cones or cups we had asked for but mediums at a much higher price. We were MAD. We paid (after some arguing) and complained about it for the next 30 minutes as we walked around Florence eating our delicious gelato. But then we had to laugh.
“What is that? $10? I can’t believe we paid that much for one cone.”
“Wait, I didn’t hear her say she was going to call the police!”
“At least it’s good gelato.”
“Did you hear me yelling at her not to add that second scoop?”
“Oh well, we’re in Italy…”
In hindsight there were signs that something wasn’t right. First, the cones and cups weren’t labeled with their prices, just stacked on the counter. There was a board listing prices behind the counter but in most gelato shops each cup and cone is clearly labeled with the price, and each size is displayed clearly on the counter like this:
Second, there was no reason for them to rush us the way they did. We were the only customers in the shop at the time, but even in busy shops the employees let us take our time deciding what flavor we wanted and waited for us to approach them when we were ready. Because we felt rushed we didn’t notice that the small cones and cups weren’t displayed on the counter. And we were too busy to listen to the little voice telling us something wasn’t right.
So, what’s the moral of this story? Take you’re time, don’t let people rush you, and pay attention. And if you do end up paying €7 for a gelato while you’re in Italy, don’t let it ruin your day. You’re in Italy! You’re eating gelato! You can’t go back and change things so you might as well laugh about it. And, now you have a great story tell when you get back home.
It’s so fun and exciting to be able to experience other cultures. Enjoy everything about it! Even when things don’t go as planned.
**We ate approximately one ton of gelato during our two weeks in Italy and this was the ONLY time we had an issue. Italy was great and the people were amazingly friendly. I’m not trying to scare you, just save you a few bucks Euro.**