“I was ashamed”: Italian PM pays the bill of four tourists who fled a restaurant in Albania after dinner

Eating and running from a restaurant, obviously because consumption was not paid for, is a practice that should be rejected everywhere. This action was recently committed by some Italian tourists who were in Albania and the wave surrounding the case caused controversy.

What those tourists did pertains to two countries. From Italy, after being notified, they ordered to cancel the account. The photos and videos of those involved leaving the premises and running away were posted on social networks and sparked outrage.

“I was ashamed,” said Italy’s Prime Minister herself, Giorgia Meloni, when she learned of the situation.

Meloni did not know what her compatriots were doing through social networks. The official was in Albania, on vacation, and there the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, told her about the embarrassing situation.

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They left without paying the bill

The case, EFE news agency reported, spread quickly on various social networks after the restaurant published the images of the four Italian tourists who escaped from a restaurant in Berat without paying the bill: about 80 euros.

The Prime Minister of Italy communicated on her networks: “I was ashamed, because the Italy that I want to represent is not a country that is talked about abroad because of these things, that does not respect the work of others, that thinks it is nice to to fool others.

She indicated that she had asked the ambassador to pay the bill, “which I paid myself. Nothing major, in fact, I didn’t even warn you.

Italians respect the rules and pay their debts.

Embassy in Albania

Another open controversy in Italy

Along with the “escape” of tourists in Albania, known for the fact that Meloni ordered the debt cleared, another front of controversy emerged. It has to do with wanting to know where the means to pay that 80 euros came from.

“This,” Meloni said on her X account (formerly Twitter), “has sparked controversy in Italy, from an opposition that clearly favors a different image of Italy. I’m sorry, because I hoped we could at least we could all agree on something so trivial.”

To dot the i’s and cross the t’s, the Italian Embassy in Tirana, Albania, explained on Friday, August 18, 2023, according to EFE, that at Meloni’s direction “the score has been settled” (…) we hope that episodes like this are not repeated ”.

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