This question is two-fold:
I'm going to Italy on a 10 day bus tour at the end of April. Breakfasts and five dinners are included. Can anyone give me an idea of how much I could expect to pay for the meals that are not included (lunches & some dinners) - I have no idea how expensive meals will be there. Of course, because it is a bus tour, I expect that we will be stopping in touristy areas so anticipate meals to be a bit more expensive.
Plus, am I better off to bring cash or use debit/credit card? I've heard that the small little places only want cash but I don't want to take too many euros with me.

Joey Rosen
20 years ago, we went to a little place in Venice for lunch. Someone who had been there before ordered for us. The bill was $50 per person. We had wine, pasta, and salad. We almost died.

Yikes!

When I did an 27 day tour, of Europe we spent 11 days in Italy and breakfast was included daily, we would make a sandwich to go from breakfast. Europe breakfasts are not the same as our. There is all types of fantastic bread, cheese and meats for breakfast. Plus fruit. Make a sandwich and grab a piece of fruit you should be fine.

I travel with students and due to the nature of our tours, lunches are usually quick and dinners are usually more lengthy, which I think influences the cost a lot of the time. I would recommend 10-15 for lunch and 25-30 for dinner (assuming you have a drink of some kind). We saved money (and time) by purchasing things to make bagged lunches from the grocery stores. Kids split everything up and it was great!

We found in some areas prices were similar to our restaurants and others were maybe a third more.

€10-15 euros for a pizza in a touristy area. €12-16 for pasta. Sandwiches run a bit cheaper at lunch. Supper expect €15-18 for a main. €2-3 for bottled water, €3-4 for house wine.
If you can explore a bit beyond the beaten path there are many restaurants you can find cheap meals at. We used credit card most of the trip and were fine, just keep in mind banks charge the 2.5% interest when exchanging to Canadian currency on your bill. We used the Rick Steves italy guidebook for finding restaurants that were all amazing eats for decent prices!

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Devyn barber