Even tap water is now included in the category of things you pay for when you go to a restaurant (and soon also to a bar). The Court of Cassation established this, starting from a very specific case that occurred at the five-star Sassongher restaurant in Corvara, South Tyrol.
A woman who had paid around 6 euros for a week's holiday did not like drinking mineral water (which cost 7 euros a bottle) in the evening, and asked the restaurant for drinking tap water (which was excellent in that region, by the way).
When it came time to pay the bill, the woman was also charged for drinking water, which she had assumed was free as per the customary practice, and she decided to appeal first to the Justice of the Peace in Rome, then to the civil court, and finally to the Court of Cassation. But she was always wrong. In the latest ruling, the one from the Supreme Court, which dates back to April 2026, the judges emphasized that . And regarding the overall cost of the stay and meals, the stay included in the Sassongher package, according to the judges, was respected in its general "tourist purpose".
In this way the judiciary has established a dangerous principle: the gratuity It doesn't exist, not even when you ask for a glass of water in a luxury restaurant.
Read also:
- Pay-toilet: Speculation at Train Stations
- Waiting rooms have disappeared from stations to make way for lounges
- Why did the benches disappear?
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