US tourists in Italy call cops after being charged $50 for ice cream

gelato_istock_italy.jpg

Outraged tourists called the cops after being charged more than $50 for ice cream.iStock

They screamed for ice cream, then screamed for the cops.

American tourists James and Marian Luciani and a friend were so surprised to get their £33 (more than $50) bill for just three ice creams and a bottle of water in Rome’s Bar Il Caffe, they called the police.

The restaurant, just steps from the Trevi Fountain, charges 13 euro, or $17, for each gelato.

“We’ve been careful in watching out for pickpockets in Rome, but I never thought I would get scammed here,” James Luciani, told the English language paper, The Local. “We had just paid 59 euros for our entire dinner, including a liter of wine, and then were charged 42 euros for gelato!” he said.

On Wednesday, after getting the ice cream, Luciani  begrudgingly paid the bill, but then came back the next day with a police officer. But the group got a frosty reception from the cops who said the prices were correct and were actually listed on the menu, the paper reported.

A manager at the cafe blamed the tourists for not checking the prices and said the gelato was worth the hefty  price tag because it could serve as a meal in itself.

Last year, four British tourists were charged $84 for four ice creams, sparking outrage.

Bottom line: When in Rome, make sure you read the menu and double-check the price of everything.

1 Comment

Filed under Humor and Observations

One response to “US tourists in Italy call cops after being charged $50 for ice cream

  1. Clearly that price is outrageous, but illegal? Not unless they charge less to tourists. And since the prices were on the menu, I can’t sympathize with the tourists. Dont like the price? Don’t give them your business.

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s