Avoid Lanfranchi Caffe on Via Ridola, just across from Hemingway restaurant - we stopped in there one night and ordered a shot of sambuca (standing at the bar, not even sitting at a table) and they charged us 12 Euros! Every other place in Italy we went, even in much more expensive cities, charged 2-3 Euros for the same drink...outrageous.

Perhaps the lesson might be

to actually ask what something costs

prior to ordering it.

Find Italy abounds with these sorts of scams

If there is not a posted price I enquire about cost.

Venice Coperto(cover) and Tip charges of 30% or so

are infuriating they actually charge a tip ON THE

COVER in some tourist traps so Caveat Emptor.

You think that's outrageous.

I ordered a gin on the rocks in Salzburg. Cost me 35E.

If you go to a very touristy piazza you will often find you are paying for the real estate, not the drink.

Ask the price before you order.

First trip to Paris we were charged €15 for a coffee overlooking Notre Dame. Lesson learned...

In Paris several months ago we stopped at Le Bizuth on Saint-Germain to have lunch with our group (2 families...4 adults and 4 kids ages 8 to 14). This was early in our trip and we were going to make sure we didn't get "taken" as we had been in Athens on our previous trip. We carefully checked the menu and were sure that our entire bill would be around $100. The kids were going to have pizza which would help. It was hot and we felt like a cool drink. We knew that refills weren't free so we decided to order the large drink. The adults got sodas all around and the kids had lemonade. The bill came and it was $200! We were ready to be furious but we checked the bill more closely. We then realized that the drinks were $10 each....for soda and bad lemonade! And to top it off my friend had ordered a 2nd drink. We then noticed on a large chalk board behind the bar was a menu that clearly showed the prices of the drinks. So we tucked our anger between our legs and paid up. There was no one to blame but ourselves.

There were no prices in the menu and it did seem a bit unreasonable to charge that much for such a cheap drink. I'm also not use to looking at the bar to price soda. It seemed as thought they were making a bit extra $$ on people who weren't really on their toes. But we just counted it as another lesson learned. Now I check the menu twice and scan the bar for additional info.

The food was incredible btw...one of the best meals we had. Oh well.

If I can get this to work you can see a picture of the happy kids, pizza and pasta...and $40 worth of lemonade.
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d.../le-bizuth.jpg

There's no shame in inquiring the price before you order. I think too many people don't like to ask for prices. It's a business transaction, asked the price.