Italians are stylish about what they drink. They are smart drinkers, favoring low alcoholic drinks and always combining the beverages to the food so that one compliments the other. There is a particular reason why the food of Piedmonte goes well with a Barolo or Barbaresco and a reason one never drinks a cappuccino in the afternoon. There are sequences of activities in the rhythm of an Italian day. Rituals, where form follows function and function, create a sense of well-being that all other cultures aspire to.

The ceremony of the Italian aperitivo, the pre-dinner drink, that “prepares your stomach” and gets your digestive juices flowing is formulated so you can fully enjoy the meal in prospect. The custom of enjoying an aperitivo in the evening before a meal is enormously popular in Italy.