Italy’s passion for the table has created some of the world’s most popular dishes, and along the way the rituals for best enjoying them. While Italians are enthusiastic and accepting hosts, they also admire those who “fare la bella figura”—make a good impression— by learning how to navigate their culinary landscape. You know never to order cappuccino after 11 AM, or have cheese on a seafood risotto—right?

But there’s a lot more that savvy travelers should consider before sitting down at a trattoria and twirling pasta around their fork. We turned to Cassandra Santoro, founder and CEO of Travel Italian Style, a New York-based travel company specializing in custom Italian itineraries, for input. Santoro divides her time between the U.S. and Italy (where she spends six months a year) and chronicles her journeys on her popular Instagram site.