A few years ago, while he was staying just outside Milan during a whirlwind tour through northern Italy’s vineyard, Ray Osborne quickly took to one very widespread local custom: spritzes in the afternoon. “You’d be out on a piazza, the town square, and everyone would have a spritz in their hands,” said Osborne, sommelier and assistant general manager at Bistro du Midi.

Americans haven’t quite mastered the Italian art of the pervasive casual spritz break. (In Venice you can step into nearly any café, order one for less than three euros, and even carry it out in a plastic cup.) But spritz season is about to be in full force, so now’s as good a time as any to pick up the habit.