From Tuesday 1 June it will be possible to consume at the counter in bars and also eat indoors in restaurants (outdoors it is possible from 26 April) in all yellow Italy, that is in all regions. Another step towards the return to normality, brought forward to Monday 31 May in the first three regions promoted in the white zone (Sardinia, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Molise). A breath of fresh air for a sector on its knees. “We all hope that this time it will open so as not to close anymore – says Roberto Calugi, general manager of Fipe-Confcommercio – but we must be careful because if the health emergency is waning, the economic problems of those who work in our sector will not end today. tomorrow: there is no staff and the premises in the historic centers are exhausted ».
Twenty thousand places closed this year
Calugi explains that out of 300,000 bars and restaurants in Italy, last year 22,000 closed due to the lockdown and 20,000 this year. «I am very worried – he explains – about the historic centers of our cities where work is often done in smart working, which penalizes bars and restaurants a lot. Another component is tourism which weighs 8 billion euros: even if there is a recovery of the national one, foreign tourism is still very small ». And if in 2019 bars and restaurants had a turnover of 90 billion euros, in 2020 “we lost 40 and in 2021 we are already 20 billion less, for a total of 60 billion euros lost”.
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Personal sauce
Not only. “We have to deal with a dramatic lack of staff, it is an incredible effort to find someone willing to work in bars and restaurants, both in the kitchen and in the dining room – concludes Colugi – on the one hand because those who worked in this sector, given the modest sums received during the lockdown, which arrived very late, left the sector and found another job, on the other hand those who receive unemployment benefits, such as severance pay or citizenship income, often prefer to stay at home”.
Unlimited number of guests at the table
From the decree law of 18 May 20121, the reference to the rules provided for by the Prime Minister’s Decree of 2 March disappeared. Therefore, the limit of 4 non-cohabiting diners who can sit at the same table has been skipped. Furthermore, according to the latest approved guidelines, the maximum number of people in bars and restaurants must be defined “in relation to the volumes of space and air changes”. For the rest, the maintenance of at least 1 meter distance between the customers of different tables must be ensured.
Obligatory mask when not seated
Not only. Customers must wear the mask “on any occasion when they are not seated at the table”. Furthermore, «access by booking» is recommended, keeping «the list of subjects who have booked for a period of 14 days». Unchanged the rules on the menus that must be available through “digital solutions” or “in plasticized printing, disinfectable after use”. Alternatively, «disposable paper». “Measures must be taken in order to avoid gatherings outside the premises and its appurtenances”.