In pasta? Espresso? High-heeled shoes, you ask? No, in receipts!
When in Italy, you'll notice a peculiar habit of all people you hand money to -- they immediately give you a receipt -- scontrino. It doesn't matter if you bought a stick of gum, a cappuccino at the bar, or a pair of jeans at the store. By law, every merchant must give you a receipt.
OK, not so unusual, right? We get receipts in the U.S. Even though the overall movement seems to be "Do you want you receipt?" or "Can I email you the receipt?" they still exist. The difference is that in the U.S. we take the receipt with our change, crumple it up, and toss in the nearest trash can. Or sometimes we simply say -- "that's OK, I don't need the receipt." Here, you MUST keep the receipt as long as you are within a 500-yard perimeter of the point of purchase. And yes, they will look shocked if you crumple it up and toss it in front of them. In fact, if you get stopped by a policeman who asks to see your receipt and you don't have it, he can accuse you of theft...
So what happens? You end up with a thousand little receipts in your pockets, bag, wallet, etc...
Here's what I fished out of my bag the other day:
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