ITALY: A high security prison in Italy turns into an exclusive restaurant for a night

Record ID: 625208

  • Title: ITALY: A high security prison in Italy turns into an exclusive restaurant for a night
  • Date: 25th May 2008
  • Summary: (L!3) VOLTERRA, ITALY (RECENT) (REUTERS) CASTLE HOSTING VOLTERRA PRISON SEEN FROM PARK VIEW FROM PRISON TOWERS VARIOUS OF PRISON POLICEMEN PATROLLING WALLS OF CASTLE POLICEMAN WATCHING INMATES COOKING VARIOUS OF INMATES COOKING, HELPED BY A PROFESSIONAL CHIEF
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVAANFKW8O5XUNFH9D9R2EU4HQPJ
  • Story Text: Under the watchful eye of armed guards, a team of cooks and waiters prepare food in what could be Italy's most exclusive restaurant -- a top security prison, where staff are convicted robbers and murderers.
    The inmates at Fortezza Medicea prison in the picturesque Tuscan town of Volterra have swapped their slacks for shirts and bow ties for a night, cooking up a sumptuous six-course dinner for curious diners wanting to sample a taste of prison life.
    Part of a project that raises money for charity, the aim is to teach the inmates cooking and waiting skills that could help them find a job for life after jail.

    "It is a good thing for us, especially for us detainees because I know that plenty of person outside, they think that we are here because we've been bad outside, and that's all, and we want to prove to them that we are not like that," said Filipino cook Joseph Harder, having laid out fine layers of carpaccio meat on plates.
    Harder hopes to stay on in Volterra after his time in jail and find a job in the kitchen of a local restaurant or a hotel.
    Around him, pots are boiling and ovens are baking just like in any other kitchen.
    Only, he needs to ask permission if he wants to use a knife.
    Candlelit tables are laid out in a deconsecrated chapel inside the high walls -- originally built in the 14-15th century as a castle -- surrounded by watch towers and security devices, ready for guests who have all undergone strict security checks.

    "First of all, we want to improve the professionality of our cooks and this year we have the help of very qualified chefs," said prison director Maria Grazia Giampiccolo.

    "It also represents the possibility of a different way of living in the jail. It is a jail that opens to the city, that relates with the rest of society offering a service," she added.
    The Volterra prison turns into a restaurant only for a few nights a year. Having begun in 2006, this year, for the first time, chefs from regional restaurants work with the detainees.
    For the inmates, who also have a a tailor's workshop, theatre and school in the prison, contact with the outside world is a welcome change.

    "Prison life is like a photocopy machine -- you leave your cell, you go to work, you work out - the day is always the same, it becomes a habit, so this is a great thing," said 39-year old Arena Aniello, in jail since 1993 for homicide. Originally from Naples, tonight he is a waiter.
    The 30-strong team of cooks, kitchen hands, waiters and sommeliers have been carefully selected. There are 150 prisoners at Fortezza Medicea, and those in for crimes linked to Mafia, drug-trafficking and kidnapping do not participate.
    The waiters smile and joke with guests, who number about 100, as they serve tuna tartare, pate and couscous with fish. And the wine keeps on flowing.
    Security is understandly tight at the prison, an imposing building with Etruscan ruins, surrounded by rolling green hills and brown-tiled villas.
    Upon reservation, guests are subjected to a background check and on arrival, they are let in groups and their mobile phones and bags are taken away before they undergo metal detector tests. The meal itself is eaten with plastic cutlery.
    The dinners have been very successful since they started and tables are booked up well in advance. One diner drove some 200 kms with his family of seven to come, while Sharon Kennedy, originally from Scotland but now living in Volterra, said she came for the food.

    "The standard of the food is fantastic and the atmosphere, the people. Even the place is incredible," Kennedy said, before the inmates took out the guitar and sang, getting applause for their culinary work.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register