The very Italian pleasure of having dinner together and recover the enthusiasm for family warmth is rediscovered in the setting on the table. When you decide to host relatives or friends at home and provide them with good food, you need to set up the table taking care of every detail leaving no stone unturned always with a personal touch. You first need to establish the tone of the lunch / dinner, whether formal (eg a dinner with your employer), family (including close relatives or people who want to feel at ease) or informally between friends.

Tablecloth first

Select tablecloth according to the type of dinner you have to serve (for special occasions green light to linen tablecloth embroidered by your grandmother), to your imagination, and to the age of diners. Flax, cotton, patterned or plain: everything is ok but has to well integrate with the other players on the table. Placemats are great for an outdoor table or other summer fun, or for lunch but never use them for dinner. The towel will be positioned to the left of the plate, next to the forks, or, neatly folded, on the plate, for casual dining.

Plate as placeholder

Fundamental element in a table setting, plates identify the position of commensals. Not coincidentally we speak about plate as placeholder to refer to the large disk, often in silver, which is below the china plate during formal dinner: the point from which we measure the position of the other guest and the center around which are arranged silverware and glasses. Plates are arranged at equal distance one to another, followed by soup dish or cup for the consomme or appetizer plate. 

The little plate for bread is always on the top left of the dinner plate.