Do You Tip in Italy?

Often asked, definitively-answered: do you tip in Italy?

One of the three main topics covered in our podcast episode "Tipping, Tap Water, and Toilets: The Three Ts of Italy", tipping is often a big question for travelers to Italy, especially for American travelers coming from the United States.

After all, for anyone traveling to the States (or living in the States) they have to factor in an extra 20% for restaurants, bars, and cafés—if not more.

As a former server in a number of restaurants, I used to love tipping (of course) and I personally had a difficult time stopping once I came to Italy.

Photo by Only a Bag.

So, do you have to tip in Italy?

No.

Pretty definitive, right?

Thanks for coming to the article!

But as an honest answer, don't tip in Italy when you come visit. In fact, I'll go a step further and say, please don't tip when you come to Italy. It can create a negative effect and cause friction between Italian tourism workers and Italian. As far as I'm aware, tipping is a distinctly American invention, one that hasn't and hopefully won't catch on in Italy.

In restaurants, there's no line for "tip" on the bill, we don't have those iPads that spin around and display "20%, 30%, 40% tip" options, and there's no real way to even leave a tip if you wanted to, apart from cash.

I'm assuming that most of you reading this article are from the United States, so this can definitely seem like a strange concept. However, keep in mind that Italy gets tourists from all over the world, and in most of the world, tipping both isn't common or even appreciated. It's not entirely uncommon for Americans to be targeted in this sense because they do have a habit of leaving tips.

Why don't you tip in Italy?

Italy doesn't have a federal minimum wage (at least, not in the same way a country like the United States does), instead, the minimum wage is set by the union (hence all the strikes). Most professions require you being in that field's union to work that job. Not all, to be clear, but most.

This means that you're guaranteed a minimum wage for delivering food to a table, or working in a bar, or any similar restaurant jobs that would require tips to make up the difference between the base wage and a livable wage. This also allows servers (or anyone else who relies on tips) to freely hop jobs without worrying as much if they won't make as much money.

Likewise, most servers in restaurants, bartenders, baristas, etc. have had some kind of schooling. Again, not all, but many. I live down the street from a school like this where you can learn to be in the kitchen cooking or front of house serving. Like many other countries in Europe, being a server is often a life-long profession rather than a temporary or "starter" job.

When do you tip in Italy?

You might have read articles or seen Reels/TikToks where people tell you that you should tip at restaurants in Italy, or tip the person bringing your bag up to your room, especially if they gave amazing service. This also pertains to taxi drivers, where it's common in the States to also tip them.

In a restaurant you might tip a euro or two if the service was exemplary, but it's not expected in the slightest.

There aren't many hotels in which a bellhop still carries bags to your room, however, they do exist in the nicer hotels. In this case, a few euros isn't out of the question, but in my experience, it's more appreciated than expected.

In general, if you're feeling awful about having not tipped, you could always let someone keep the change. You'll see this at bars occasionally, where there's a glass of water and coins in it(to prevent people from reaching in and pulling them out, I suppose). This mainly comes fromm people paying 1 euro for a 0.90 cent coffee, but again, it's not common. The barista will always assume you want your 0.10 cents back. Likewise, if the taxi fare is €18, it's totally fine to give the driver a €20 and let them keep the change. However, the driver will (or at least, should) offer the €2 back, and if you choose to let them keep it, you don't have to tip on top of that.

Tipping in Northern Italy versus Southern Italy

Many things in Italy vary by region. Language, food, the use of butter in the north being illegal in the south (not actually, but pretty close).

Tipping might be one of those things. We've lived in Southern Italy for the past 5 years, so most of our information is based off of this. While this normally wouldn't change anything, the South, on average, is very un-used to tourism outside of the Amalfi Coast, Pompeii, and now, Naples.

Since the South in un-used to tourism, they don't expect—or even know to do with—tips. While no one will chase you down to return your tip, some people will act confused. And while we've seen Italians in the North occasionally leave a euro or two on the table, we've never seen an Italian in the South do that.

So, as the old adage goes, when in Rome (or southern Italy) do as Southern Italians do.

Do you tip gondola drivers in Venice?

You can tip a gondolier (or a gondola driver, if you prefer) as you exit the gondola, but keep in mind that the cheapest trip is currently €90 (just over $100 USD at the time of writing this in July 2025) in Venice and a gondolier makes an average minimum of €3,000-€4,000 a month, with some making more than €10,000 a month if they have seniority. So while tips are nice, they're by no means mandatory to take a gondola ride.

Likewise, if you take the "gondola bus", or the traghetto da parada, across the Grand Canal, you might feel the sudden urge to tip since they were able to safely carry you and the other 11 people safely across the Canal on the most rickety-feeling gondola in Venice. However, just as with a regular gondola ride, it's not necessary or required.

What do I do if I'm asked to tip in Italy?

This has absolutely been known to happen, as many a thread on Reddit will tell you. You're finishing up a meal at a restaurant in Rome, you pay the bill, leave, and suddenly, the server comes running down the street, telling you that you've forgotten to tip.

In this situation, the server is almost certainly working in nero, which means "in the black" or as we would say in America, "under the table". The owner is trying to avoid paying a wage to the server and taxes to the government for the worker's healthcare, social security, etc. so they'll sometimes hire on servers and encourage (read: force) them to work for tips. In these rare cases, they're heavily motivated to run you down and ask for tips.

In the stories I've read and heard, they're fully expecting an American 20% tip, if not more.

You can absolutely ignore them. If they threaten to call the police or the Carabinieri (which is a common scare tactic), you can let them, or even tell them that you'll also call. The law 100% protects you in cases like this, provided you did pay for the meal.

You might also be asked when exiting something like a gondola, or some other type of non-necessary transportation (like those little tour golf carts). Again, as mentioned in the beginning of the article, Americans tend to be targeted a lot more than people from other countries since it's known pretty much throughout Italy that Americans are known to tip. You will always have the law (and the appreciation of other Italians) on your side when you decline to tip. So don't feel bad, and enjoy your meal/gondola ride!