Venetian restaurant fined €20,000 for overcharging tourists

A restaurant near St Mark’s Square in Venice has been fined €20,000 after it charged a group of Japanese students £970 (€1,100; US$1,347) for a plate of fried fish, four steaks, bottle of wine and a mineral water.

The group had been visiting Venice for the day from Bologna, where they are studying, when they were hit with the gargantuan bill for what was described as a simple meal. While the group did pay the bill, they called police in Bologna once they had arrived home to report the incident.

The mayor of Venice promised to investigate after the story grabbed headlines around the world, and the group also gained the support of a Venice residents’ forum called “Gruppo 25 Aprile”, which has been battling against cases of restaurants overcharging tourists in Venice.

The restaurant, Osteria da Luca, failed to give them a receipt, with the group only able to prove that they had been charged the sum because they had retained a credit card slip.

The Venetian Hoteliers Association has also stepped in to offer the students a free two-night stay in a luxury hotel in an effort to negate some of the negative press attention the incident has brought upon the city.

The association’s president, Vittorio Bonacini, blamed the incident for having done immense damage to the reputation of Venice as a travel destination.

“The association has taken note of the fact that the episode did grave harm to the image of the city,” he said.

“After a high-level discussion, we’ve decided to offer the four tourists who had such an unfortunate experience a stay of two nights in a four or five star hotel.”

The fine was issued after the restaurant owners were questioned by police and local health authorities.