2350 Italian B&Bs

I was surprised to read in the "In Business" section of Decembers Italy magazine that a B&B business in Italy cannot offer cooked breakfasts but only ready prepared food. I'd be interested to know if this is the case in all areas, for example, does it only apply to very small establishments, and what experiences of Italian B&Bs people have had.

Gerry

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 01/14/2006 - 04:24

You're quite right. In order to serve any hot food or alcoholic drinks you need to do a course called Somministrazione Alimenti e Bevande. It covers health and hygeine, health and safety, emplyment law, taxes etc. - we found out just a month before we were due to open our county house and my italian was extremely poor at the time. There's another certificate you need from the local hospital that also covers health and hygeine. It was actually a hysterical process - send me a private message if you want any more info.

However there are many establishments who operate successfully without serving hot breakfast, but these days there are really stringent legislation as to storage and serving of produce, especially eggs.

Hope this is helpful
Pam

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 01/14/2006 - 12:13

Our first experience of Bed & Breakfast was in the area in which we now live, when we were house-hunting. Our delightful Italian hosts (can't name them for reasons which will follow) greeted us with home-made cake and we woke the next morning to a breakfast of omelettes made with wild asparagus picked fresh from the garden. Sellophane-wrapped melba toasts and cartons of sterilised orange juice were not much in evidence, and you can bet we weren't in any hurry to get to the local Police and issue a denuncia!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 01/14/2006 - 12:20

Ah, This explains alot. I wondered about all the melba toasts and cake. Funny though the kids have never once moaned about having cake for breakfast!!!!!:) Poor little mites don't get this at home though!

Forgot to mention the gorgeous coffee ...........mmm and the delicious home made jam