A restaurant in Italy has sparked outrage after it charged 40p to slice its pizzas and another 85p for the takeaway box.
Customer Sergio Paoli, 60, was shocked when he was handed the receipt including the extra charges in Rosys pub and pizzeria in Scurelle, in the northern Italian province of Trentino, on October 20.
I immediately noticed a difference between the amount paid and what I should have based on the menu displayed, the writer told local outlet Corriere Del Trentino.
I analysed the receipt and discovered the crux: the word sliced appeared four times [relating to] the number of pizzas purchased, for a cost of 50 cents (40p) each. To this was added a total of 4 euros (£3.30) for the takeaway boxes.
When Mr Paoli asked for clarification on the extra charges, he was told that it was due to him and his companions asking to have their pizzas cut into slices. Overall they paid £5 (6 euros) extra to have their pizzas sliced and put in boxes.
Customer Sergio Paoli, 60, was shocked when he was handed the receipt including the extra charges in Rosys pub and pizzeria in Scurelle, in the northern Italian province of Trentino, on October 20
Overall Mr Paoli and his friends paid £5 (6 euros) extra to have their pizzas sliced and put in boxes
We are not a pizzeria by the slice, so it is a service that is paid for ... And this also applies to the boxes: they are an expense that I also have to face, so they are a service paid for by the customer, the restaurant owner said in a statement to local media.
This is not the first time an eatery in Italy has sparked outrage over their add-on charges for minor items or services.
Last year, diners left a scathing review after an ice cream parlour charged them €1 for an extra spoon to share their dessert in the latest row over restaurants in the country allegedly ripping people off.
A customer said she asked for a second spoon to share her tub of ice cream with her husband at the Gelateria Serafini in the town of Lavis in northern Italy.
The woman wrote in her TripAdvisor review: I shared a €8 cup of ice cream, but I paid €9: I was charged an extra €1 as a service for asking for a second spoon.
I wont come back again, but if you come by, bring one from home.
This came after a couple was charged €2 for an empty plate so their daughter could try the pasta at an Italian restaurant in August 2023.
Italians mocked the restaurant for the unusual charge and even the regional governor condemned it - amid a row in the country over extra hidden prices.
A customer said she asked for a second spoon to share her tub of ice cream with her husband at the Gelateria Serafini in the town of Lavis in northern Italy
The woman wrote in her TripAdvisor review: I shared a €8 cup of ice cream, but I paid €9 (pictured): I was charged an extra €1 as a service for asking for a second spoon
Ida Germano, the owner of the Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure, told The Times at the time that the charge was valid because more plates to clean meant more work to do.
In another prices scandal, a couple who asked for an extra teaspoon so they could share a dessert were charged €1.50.
They were billed for the pleasure of using two teaspoons to eat the crema catalana they had at the pizzeria near Alba, in northern Piemonte.
A posh bar at Italys exclusive Lake Como also sparked outrage after it was revealed it charges customers an extra €2 just to cut their sandwiches in half.
One disgruntled customer shared a photograph of a receipt online as proof of the baffling charge.
The printout from June 18, 2023, clearly shows that Bar Pace had charged them €2 for the privilege of cutting their fancy sarnie in two.
The total pushed the already pricy €7.50 toast vegetariano e patatine - or veggie toast and crisps - up to €9.50.
The owner of the bar, who has not been named, hit back in Italian media, saying that additional requests have a cost.
Diners at an Italian restaurant were shocked after waiters charged them €2 for an empty plate so their daughter could try the pasta. Pictured: The restaurants receipt
Ida Germano (pictured), the owner of the Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure, said the charge was valid because more plates to clean meant more work to do
They explained: If a customer asks me to make two portions of toast, I have to use two saucers, two napkins and go to the table using two hands.
It is true that the customer is always right, but it is equally true that additional requests have a cost.
The customer, also unnamed, was reportedly at the bar in Gera Lario, a small town located on the northern shore of Lake Como, with his partner.
They ordered a fizzy drink, the sandwich to share, a water and a coffee, for a total cost of €15.70 (£13.52).
The TripAdvisor user said: This has never happened to me in any of the places I have visited in the world.
Since international travel returned to normality at the end of the global pandemic, several disgruntled holidaymakers have taken to the internet to express their shock at being presented with exorbitant bills in bars and restaurants in a number of European holiday destinations.
Several customers have slammed a cafe near Saint Peters Basilica in Rome for being a tourist trap, with one customer saying they were charged €53 for two triangular toast bread sandwiches and a ham and mozzarella ciabatta.