\n<\/p>\n
From the pasta-eating mistake of cutting your noodles<\/a>\u00a0to getting side-eyed for ordering a cappuccino after morning passes<\/a>, vacationers have been bumbling their way through Italy since travel here began centuries ago. But one cultural misunderstanding seems to have exploded on the internet in recent years: the purpose of the infuriatingly small, seemingly pointless napkins (called tovagliolini) that come in dispensers dotting the tables of cafes, bars, pastry shops, and gelaterias across the country. Created from cellulose, and made water-resistant with polyamide-epichlorohydrin resin (PAE), these flimsy square sheets feel plasticky and aren’t absorbent \u2014 making them completely ineffective for wiping your hands or cleaning up a mess.<\/p>\n This issue has drawn the ire of many a tourist to Italy, even popping up on Q&A threads on Quora and various subreddits. One Quora user<\/a>\u00a0complained, “Why are napkins in cafes in Portugal and Italy so useless? They are hard and don’t absorb anything like traditional ones.” And Redditor u\/Ziopover<\/a> asked, “We’re talking about those little napkins that are on the counter in every bar… but what the hell are they for?”<\/p>\n It probably won’t surprise you to learn that, once again, tourists have gotten it wrong: these “useless” napkins aren’t what you think they are. They’re made for picking up pastries rather than cleaning. As Italy-based digital creator\u00a0@ciaraswalsh<\/a>\u00a0explains, “These are not napkins that will just soak up water [as they have] like a waxy consistency to them. They’re actually used to be picking up your cornetto or brioche … so you don’t dirty your hands.”<\/p>\n