Matteo Renzi answers a reader’s query about high ice cream prices

Matteo Renzi answers a reader’s query about high ice cream prices

Dear Mayor Renzi, I have just enjoyed a few days in Florence seeing some wonderful sights and meeting some great locals. This was my first trip to Florence and Italy and after seeing Pisa and Lucca, Florence was the next on my trip. Things went very well, but I felt

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Wed 19 Jun 2013 10:00 PM

Dear Mayor Renzi,

I have just enjoyed a few days in Florence seeing some wonderful sights and meeting some great locals. This was my first trip to Florence and Italy and after seeing Pisa and Lucca, Florence was the next on my trip. Things went very well, but I felt somewhat disappointed by what can be described as overt greed in one of your gelateria parlors by the Ponte Vecchio. I had read a few weeks earlier about a group of tourists in Rome who had been charged 64 euro for four ice creams and thought ‘how did they let that happen?’ Unfortunately, the same happened to me; to a lesser extent, but nonetheless it left me feeling somewhat disappointed that people take advantage of tourists who provide most of their income when they can.

 

While on holiday you expect to pay a bit more for ice creams and drinks, but when you get charged 10 euro for four small scoops of ice cream and eight for a cone it was trying to extract as much as possible for as little as possible. I do not have the name of the ice-cream parlor, but it is on the street to the right before crossing the Ponte Vecchio from the city. The prices on the signs were so small that it was difficult to read them; the prices on the tubs were also either missing or turned facing away. I should have asked, but after buying ice cream before and being charged a maximum of 6 euro, I didn’t think it would cost much more. I wondered why, on such a hot day, the gelateria was empty of customers. By the time I had tried to check the prices the cups of ice cream were filled and the price was charged. 38 euro, £34, for four ice creams, was extortionate. It certainly left a sour taste in my mouth: caveat emptor was never truer.

 

I accept that I should have asked the price and checked the signs, but on holiday you tend to let your guard down. It was a shame that this one shopkeeper was able to spoil a holiday in a beautiful city.

 

Regards, David Pinder

 

 

Dear Mr. Pinder,

I am sincerely sorry to hear this story. Unfortunately, neither the mayor nor the city government has the power to intervene on the excessive prices charged by private establishments. What we may do and, in fact what we make sure we do, is to intervene on the quality of products with constant inspections on the part of the health department, the authorities and the local police. We verify the sanitary conditions of shops and make sure regulations are being adhered to by bars, restaurants, mini-markets and food stores. In case of infractions, we apply sanctions and in some cases even close businesses down. I know that in 99% of Florentine businesses shopkeepers carry out their activities in a respectable manner; unfortunately, there is that small group who go too far and damage the reputations of all the others in the city.

 

I thank you for writing to me about your experience and hope you will have other memories to balance out this unfortunate one when you think of your visit to Florence.

 

Best, Matteo

 

Those interested in writing the mayor can send messages and comments via email to redazione@theflorentine.net, stating ‘Write the Mayor’ in the subject line of the email. Emails must clearly state the author’s first name, surname, city and country of birth, and the city and country of residence.

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