Many, many thanks for the replies everyone! It's much appreciated. After reading the replies, I'm committed. August 18, I stop drinking. I've told my girlfriend and have asked a handful of close friends to ask me how it's going from time to time. I've also told my girlfriend to be stricter with me; she's Italian and has a very 'do what you want' Mediterranean attitude (which is nice in general, but not ideal when trying to give up drink).
In fact, as an experiment, when we went out for pizza last night I ordered a bottle of 2% lemon lager (shandy basically). Bit too lemony for my liking, but not bad at all! One this note, can anyone think of any other good alternatives to wine or beer when in a restaurant? Or... in the pub? I gotta be honest, I do quite enjoy sitting somewhere with a lovely view and having a cold beer or glass of wine! And I certainly don't want to give up going to places where alcohol is the common drink!
Thanks again, guys. I have a funny feeling I'll be spending quite a bit of time here
P.S. In case anyone is interested, I'm 27 years old, and work remotely in Rome. Annoyingly, the wine is rather good (and plentiful) here!