For Italians, “caffè” is just espresso. Then you have “americano”, which is similar to filter coffee even though it’s usually made by adding warm water to an espresso.
Then you have “ristretto”, which is a shorter espresso.
An americano is indeed an espresso (sometimes double shot) with added hot water. Not Italy specific though, it’s just a different thing than filter coffee - but it’s true that in Italy you can usually get the former but not the latter.
Some other common coffees: lungo (“long”, an espresso that’s extracted for longer so it’s a bit more “watery”), macchiato (“stained”, an espresso with a bit of milk and foam in it, kinda like an espresso version of a cappuccino), macchiatone (“big macchiato”, halfway between macchiato and cappuccino), corretto (“corrected”, with a tiny bit of liquor, usually grappa or sambuca)
Not only the amount of dairy.
For Italians, “caffè” is just espresso. Then you have “americano”, which is similar to filter coffee even though it’s usually made by adding warm water to an espresso.
Then you have “ristretto”, which is a shorter espresso.
An americano is indeed an espresso (sometimes double shot) with added hot water. Not Italy specific though, it’s just a different thing than filter coffee - but it’s true that in Italy you can usually get the former but not the latter.
Some other common coffees: lungo (“long”, an espresso that’s extracted for longer so it’s a bit more “watery”), macchiato (“stained”, an espresso with a bit of milk and foam in it, kinda like an espresso version of a cappuccino), macchiatone (“big macchiato”, halfway between macchiato and cappuccino), corretto (“corrected”, with a tiny bit of liquor, usually grappa or sambuca)