With two teenager prepping for our upcoming trip to Italy, we're curious what kinds of soft drinks are typically available in Italian pizzerias and spaghetterias other than the ubiquitous Coca Cola.

Hi Linda,

May I suggest giving your youngsters a glass of wine and water?

No, you may not!

You can also find Fanta, Sprite, mineral water (with bubbles). No root beer, no cherry pepsi, no vanilla coke, no strawberry lemonade. We are a bit behind in this matter.

And, if you DO decide to have a Coke, specifically what we call "diet" Coke, in Europe it is generally referred to as "Coke Lite." Assume you are already aware that folks in Europe do not like the amounts of ice in drinks that we seem to. You can get more ice sometimes if you ask for it and sometimes you'll find the usual drink dispensers in the Italian Burger Kings and Micky D's. In addition to the available everywhere Fanta you'll also see such brands as Orangina.

Given alcohol problems are much greater in Anglo Saxon countries compared to Europe where wine for teenagers (with water) is so much more common (and an awful lot of commentators suggest educating the young about alcohol in a sensible way is a big factor in this), and obesity is so much greater (in part due to high sugar soft drinks), I thought Ira's suggestion was excellent and even if Linda seems totally against it, should be considered by others not so willing to offer only soft drinks. Perhaps Linda fruit juice might also be a healthier option?.

We just returned from Italy - I suggest something other than soft drinks - they are anywhere from 4-5.50 Euro cents for large soft drinks!! Very expensive...a good bottle of russo is the same! Bottles of water (naturale or fizzy) is about 2 Euro

My kids will be 14 & 16 when we go to Italy next year and I've told them they can have wine with their meals, and they should think about drinking something other than soda.

My son has expressed an interest in visiting a winery and wine tasting and so that's on the to do list.

Seems like Italy has a more sensible outlook, wine for youngsters, but drunkenness is frowned on. Here no wine for youngsters but drunkenness is seen as fine joke.

Travelhappy is right - you'll have to pay up for soft drinks. And don't think refills come free.

Not to intrude on the morality lecture, but the generic words for orange soda and lemon sode are aranciata and limonata. San Pellegrino makes them both. There's also chinotto, which is a bitter kind of soft drink.

Fruit nectars and juices are, of course, also available, but if you want unsweetened juice, make sure you're getting it "senza zucchero."

Actually alcoholism, binge drinking, and the associated health problems (e.g., liver damage) are rampant in Europe, and have been for centuries. But it is viewed by a large segment of the European population as a normal part of life. So the wine helps the heart, but destroys the liver. Sometimes you just can't win.
From the Eurocare Report on Alcohol Policy in the European Union:

Europe is the continent with the highest consumption, production and export of alcohol. Six per cent of deaths among people aged under 75 and 20 per cent of all acute hospital admissions are alcohol-related.

More than 1 in 5 road traffic deaths and accidents are alcohol-related and alcohol is an important factor in domestic, recreational and work-related accidents.

Alcohol use is implicated in a considerable proportion of public order problems including violence and also in family disruption and child abuse, placing a heavy burden on the social welfare system.

Drinks industry publications tend to devote considerable attention to medical aspects of alcohol consumption and relatively little to the adverse social consequences which, across Europe, are probably of greater significance for more people.

The Amsterdam Group report, for example, hardly refers to treatment services for people with alcohol problems. Yet alcohol is clearly the major dependency problem in Europe and there is no country of the Union which does not provide specialist treatment services. Across Europe, around 20-40 per cent of psychiatric admissions are for alcohol-related diagnoses.

Throughout the Union there are millions of people with ongoing alcohol problems. There are, for example, an estimated 5 million in Italy alone, and in Germany 1 in 5 men aged 25 - 64 meet the lifetime criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence or both. Altogether, therefore, the total number affected must run into tens of millions.

This is not a problem that can be dismissed moralistically as belonging exclusively to "a small percentage of irresponsible users".

I'm not sure it's served in cafes, but I drank alot of 'Gatorade' in Venice, bought from the gelato shops and sidewalk vendors.

When our teenage son went to Italy 3 years ago, one of the things he commented on was how expensive and small the Cokes were - he brought back a bottle for his foreign-language Coke bottle collection - it is only 6 ounces. I asked him and he said many smaller places only had Coke.

In France they have a drink called a Diabolo ______(fill in with flavor choice: menthe ,fraise, etc) It is a seven-up with a syrup flavoring added. In hot weather my favorit is a Diabolo Menthe. Kids seems to like the Diabolo Fraise (strawberry) or Grenadine. Sort of like a Roy Rogers. I'm sure Italy has a similar drink. Anyone know the name???

Rufus: Alchoolism is much more common in norhtern Europe than in southern Europe. I am not saying that in italy, France, Spain or Greece there are no winos, I am saying that they are not as many as in northern Europe. It is true that these countiries have the highiest level of wine consumption, but thi is very logical, since these are some of the largest wine producing countries. Wine (and beer) in southern Europe are treated as part of the meal, they are mainly consumed with food (and we tend to eat only during meals), so in a _big_ dinner you may drink up to 4-5 glasses of 2-3 different types of wine, but that's the only time you will be drinking alcool for the whole day, and, usually, you drink much less. Stronger spirits are also drank, but they are usually an exception.
As for drinks for teenagers: if the kids can go without soft drinks it's better. Soft drinks interfere with the taste of food, so if they are not drinking wine (please, no watered wine é_&egrave, drinking a tasteless liquid (water!) would be much better.

Soft drinks are considered a treat for children in our household (actually only one of them likes soft drinks or juice, the other one is a water or milk kind of guy), not a beverage. That said, I found it a great deal easier to get a reasonable version of one in Italian restaurants: Fanta. The Fanta is nothing like the bright orange syrup-y mess you get in the U.S., but more like Orangina---pale orange, less sweet, more fruity. It's not expensive, but I never let my daughter have more than one in any case.

I do let my kids (9 and 12) have sips of wine and beer if they want to try it. My daughter usually wants to, and I encourage my son to do so as a way of getting him to try new tastes.

We usually get large bottles of water with dinner (very cheap), so there's still the ritual of pouring something.

Yes, soft drinks are very expensive. Cold bottled water, with or without "gas," is something to try to get used to instead of cokes & the like. We also saw, in hot summer, similar (ie same companies offered it, like San Benedetto)chilled bottled tea...often flavored, ie with peach or with limone. Basically, iced tea with slightly different flavor than we may be accustomed to. Fanta Orange seemed to be EVERYWHERE! I was surprised, as we have trouble finding it here at home. Now, to us, it brings back memories of Italy in July/August!

The Pellegrino Limonata is delicious - a bit like Schweppes Bitter Lemon and very refreshing. I'm a ssuming (quite possibly mistakenly) that many cafes may also offer what are known as Italian Soda here in the US. Concentrated liquid flavorings of a wide variety (usually fruit based) arte added to soda water (one flavor at a time). Some folks take this drink with milk added but I prefer it just on ice.

the pellegrino is indeed pretty good..it's more of an adult taste in that it's not too sweet. however, being a fanta lemon fiend, i can never have enough of this tasty stuff..

if you are going to sorrento, you should try their limoncello..

as earlier posters noted, fanta orange from europe tends to be less syrupy like u.s. counterpart such as sunkist. even the fanta orange from us- which is just emerging in the us market- has a rather artificial taste. i would stay away from the us produced fantas if at all possible.

oh yeah the metric system means the can size is pretty small though most sodas also come in plastic bottles (500ml) which should be more than enough for any lunch or dinner..

My daughter went on a school trip to Europe recently, and all the kids (16-19) were big fans of Fanta when they came back. I think it was as much the ads (the faaahnta song) as anything, but my daughter said the tropical flavour is particularly good.