Fig.: expression often put negatively: wanting to get a double benefit from two contrasting situations

Because she is paid well at a job that she loves, Mary gets to have her cake and eat it too

Maria ha un lavoro ben retribuito e che le piace moltissimo, è riuscita quindi nell'impresa di avere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca

He had to choose between the two girls in the end, although he wanted to have it both ways by going out with both

Alla fine ha dovuto scegliere tra le due ragazze, anche se, in realtà, avrebbe voluto uscire con tutte e due senza che se ne avessero a male. Quello che si dice "volere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca"

You would like to have your cake and eat it too, but unfortunately that's not possible, and the situation is such that either you lay off 50% of your personnel or you'll go bankrupt

Tu vorresti fare la frittata senza rompere le uova, ma purtroppo non è possibile e la situazione è tale per cui o licenzi metà del personale o farai bancarotta

My brother would love to live the college life, but without studying! Unfortunately for him, he's been told that he cannot have his cake and eat it too

Mio fratello vorrebbe tantissimo fare la vita da universitario, ma senza studiare! Purtroppo per lui, gli è stato chiarito che non può volere la botte piena e la moglie ubriaca

Although the original expression is "eat your cake and have it too", as reported in John Heywood's collection of proverbs of 1546, today the most common form of it is "have your cake and eat it too", which to some people seems illogical since you can certainly have a cake and then eat it, but not vice versa