Italians have bad breakfast habits according to experts in Milano, Italy. The results found from studies are not so calming. Our physical and mental capabilities strongly depend on our first meal of the day, not to mention those negative consequences that often creep up along side a non-nourishing breakfast. Breakfast should be eaten in a pleasant fashion, calmly in our own homes, sitting at the table Those who do not follow a healthy regimen, will often be found to suffer later on in life; from obesity, or have a higher tendency of taking up the habit of smoking or alcohol abuse.

Most Italians begin their day in a bar, their breakfast consisting of a coffee with hot milk (cappuccino) and a brioche or cornetto, custard or chocolate-filled croissant, which you usually help yourself to from the counter and eat standing at the bar. Breakfast in a hotel (prima colazione) is often a limp affair of bread and processed meats, often not worth the price.

If you wander the streets of just about any Italian town, you are certain to come across a friggitoria, or frying stand, dispensing snacks to passersby. Some of the specialties will be quite local, but others are by now standard.

The italian ice cream industry is one of the most dynamic in the world, with an overall production of 560 thousand tons and sales verging on 4 billion euro. it is a role carried out by tens of thousands of artisan firms.

It is one of the oldest foods and according to the greater part of food historians, it originated in Italy. This food is ice cream, with its origins in the classic antiquity. The Greeks and Romans used to savour fruit purees mixed with snow and sweetened with honey. These were the first "sorbets", and were very different from nowadays the ice cream. As no method of freezing liquids had yet been invented, snow and ice collected during the winter months were conserved in underground storerooms and covered with layers of straw, serving as insulation. Conserved for a long time in this way, the snow was then able to be used during the summer to satisfy and refresh the palates of avid consumers.

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