Bar owners fear new Covid restrictions, restaurants believe they can make them work

Record ID: 1582400

  • Title: Bar owners fear new Covid restrictions, restaurants believe they can make them work
  • Date: 20th October 2020
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (OCTOBER 19, 2020) (REUTERS) CHEFS FROM THE "DA FORTUNATA" RESTAURANT IN THE CENTRE PREPARING FRESH PASTA IN THE RESTAURANT WINDOW CUSTOMERS SEATED AT TABLE / "DA FORTUNATA" RESTAURANT CHEFS MAKING PASTA SEEN FROM WINDOW CUSTOMERS SEATED AT TABLE CUSTOMERS AND WAITER TALKING VARIOUS OF CHEF AT "DA FORTUNATA" RESTAURANT, ANTONIA AMODIO, MAKING PASTA (SOUNDBITE)
  • Embargoed: 3rd November 2020 09:24
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte Italy Rome bars coronavirus health pubs restaurants restrictions
  • Location: ROME, ITALY
  • City: ROME, ITALY
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Europe,Health/Medicine,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001D0XM2PZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Restaurant owners, pasta makers and managers of tourist pubs spoke about their concerns on Monday (October 19), a day after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte unveiled a further package of measures to try to halt a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections.
    The government announced that restaurants and other food shops will be allowed to remain open until midnight but will be able to serve only seated customers after 6 p.m, a measure that didn't worry restaurants but did deal a blow to bars and pubs in central Rome.
    For chefs at the popular "Da Fortunata" restaurant close to Piazza Navona, where it's always hard to get a table, the new restrictions weren't a cause for concern. Rather, it was the number of people coming through the restaurant doors each day.
    "We are worried because so many people are coming in but we must be strong," said Antonia Amodio as she rolled out freshly made pasta ready for customers in the restaurant window during a busy lunchtime.
    At the "La Carbonara" restaurant, owner Giulia Martelli was busy putting up signs outside with information about the new measures, including the maximum number of people allowed inside and the mask requirement for anyone not eating or drinking.
    Martelli said the new restrictions would not change much for their restaurant as diners are usually finished eating by midnight.
    "This measure does not affect us a lot, because the closure at midnight is not so limiting for a traditional restaurant like ours," Martelli said. "Usually we work with the first round of customers at around 8 p.m. and a second-round at around 10 p.m. so midnight is not such a restrictive closing time for us."
    The situation changes when it comes to the new security protocols for pubs and bars.
    Closing at midnight and limited numbers for table service mean pubs like "The Drunken Ship", a drinking joint that usually stays open until the early hours of the morning packed with tourists and expats in the capital's famous Campo de' Fiori, will be heavily impacted. The pandemic has already meant far fewer customers and manager Alessandro Martioli has already had to layoff a number of members of staff.
    "We work less and less...with these rules it's a mess," he said, after attaching a sign outside the pub saying the maximum capacity is 25 people.
    "The most ridiculous thing is that people can't come to pubs but buses and the subways are full, nothing happens in the gyms but in the pub, you get the coronavirus," he quipped.
    The "Antico Forno Roscioli" is one of Rome's historic bakeries and every day since 1824 it has filled the Campo de Fiori square with the smell of fresh bread.
    Almost two centuries after its opening, the bakery kept up with the times and immediately adopted the new security protocols, with people queuing in line at the entrance of the shop where only one customer at a time can enter.
    "We have always been very strict about letting people in and out the bakery and we will continue to do so because we hope that a little bit of rigour can bring us closer to the end of this problem," owner of the "Antico Forno Roscioli", Fabrizio Roscioli, told Reuters.
    Italy was the first country in Europe to be hit hard by COVID-19 and has the second-highest death toll in the region after Britain, with 36,543 fatalities since the outbreak flared in February, according to official figures. Although numbers of new cases were under control over summer, they have risen sharply in recent weeks, causing the government to introduce more and more measures.
    The government agreed on Monday to a request from the Lombardy region, hard hit by the second waves of infections, to impose further restrictions to try and curb the new surge.
    Lombardy proposed the government stop from Oct. 22 non-essential economic activities and people's movements between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m, adding they would also be asked to shut down all large shops on Saturday and Sunday.
    As a part of a new 40 billion euros stimulus package the government approved in its 2021 budget, Rome plans to set up a 4 billion euro fund to compensate companies that have been worst hit by coronavirus restrictions.
    (Production: Cristiano Corvino, Antonio Denti, Fabiano Franchitti, Emily Roe)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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