I know Italians eat late dinners. When is the typical lunch time? If I am traveling to a less touristy area, will restaurants be open at 12?

A general lunchtime for sit-down restaurants seemed to be 12-3 when I was looking.

Maybe. You'll know the restaurants are about to open when the shopkeepers start closing their doors.

As you go southward, times get later. 12am is a good lunch time for Switzerland, including the Italian one, but somewhat too early for Italy. Most restaurants will open around 12.30pm but people actually begin eating at 1pm in the north, a bit later in the south.

Thanks. I recall someone mentioning everything shutting down in Lucca in the afternoons until 4 so I wondered if that meant restaurants too and in other areas like Bolognese. I have a tour at 2, wanted to get the museum comfortably at 1:30 and was hoping a relaxed sit down lunch was doable.

If you are in a hurry, tell the waiter. Some dishes are faster to prepare than others or may be ready at the moment.

I have had more trouble finding a late lunch, particularly in Venice, than an earlier one. Lunch seating ends earlier than in France.

In Lucca, the big restaurants in all the guidebooks will open on time and can get you out on your schedule if you let them know your needs. A smaller place on a back street may have trouble getting the idea unless your Italian is good.

But noon to 1:30 would not be considered a leisurely lunch.

Bologna, IIRC, would be slightly later, but there are plenty of places, caves not restaurants, where you can get a sandwich and drink.

Urban Italy doesn't really do leisurely lunches, except in the touristyest of locations (even in Rome, there are lots of restaurants where it's seriously odd, going on antisocial, for you to take more than 45 mins at lunch and odder still for a restaurant to be that slow).

If you're in a hurry, most bars - especially in Central Italy - have a decent range of sandwiches and tramezzini, often surprisingly interesting. The word "paninotheca" started off as a joke, but is now usually more reliable an indicator of decent food than "gastropub" in England. You can usually assess how interesting the sandwich range is going to be from outside, since it's practically all visible - or just by walking in and having a look without necessarily ordering.

Thanks! I was thinking around an hour for lunch (12-1) and then travel time from the restaurant to the museum being a 1/2 hour. I am surprised that longer than 45 min would be odd! Good to know and will keep in mind when planning out car rental pick up time.