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AUG. SEP. 2021 III AT PAGE 10 CLOSE UP Italian catering, staggers but does not give up Venice, Florence, Rome: the premises of the historic centres have suffered the most since March 2020. And in the absence of liquidity, many have closed or sold their businesses. But it’s not over yet: the future sees a deep restructuring of the sector. The weakest point? The service by Anna Muzio A changed, perhaps distorted, unrecognizable reception. This will be the one that will come out of the biennus horribilis of the pandemic, and in all likelihood, we will see the ‘poisoned’ fruits in 2022 and beyond. Today, however, the Italian restaurant industry is exhausted - psychologically and economically - by a year and a half of partial or total closures, delivery and downsizing of the seating, masks and investments in plexiglass, digital marketing and air purification systems, and willing to sell itself, or even sell out, to the highest bidder. Happy to buy a “golden goose”. The centres of the great cities of art - those that have suffered the most between lack of foreign tourists and smart working - in particular to the recovery will be assaulted by hordes of tourists affected by the Mal d’Italia. It’s no coincidence that this summer our country was the most sought- after summer destination in the world according to Destination Insights. To find out more, we went to see what is happening, between closures and acquisitions (a variable, we say now, elusive and very difficult to monitor), in the three cities that have been symbols of Italian tourism since Goethe, the favourite and unmissable destinations of every self- respecting trip to Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome. A FRAGILE TISSUE “The pandemic has only accelerated processes already in place,” says Aldo Cursano, president of FIPE Tuscany, “the business fabric of the hospitality industry, which from the point of view of relationships and human relations has a unique offer in the world, from the economic point of view is very fragile, poorly capitalized, often made up of small businesses that work for cash. A model that the stop-and-go of the pandemic has broken”. Fipe’s figures speak for themselves: since March 2020, 50,000 companies have closed and 250,000 professionals have left, no longer seeing a future in the sector. According to Cursano, those values that revolved around a model of hospitality that has made the history and culture of our country have been dismantled, either because of political choices, “we have been judged to be a superfluous sector”, or because of changes in the habits and lifestyles of customers. WILD SHOPPING So, who is buying these historic places? “The financial funds, the chains, who know that sooner or later it will reopen,” comments Cursano. “They are difficult steps to trace because those who buy do not want to show off. But many have sold out and thrown away the sacrifices of a life for lack of economic coverage, for example, not being able to pay the rents. There is a shopping of all kinds, those who are drowning accept to get out of difficult situations. Among these, trattorias that have made the history of Florence, with expensive leases and organizational structures, used to working at a fast pace: indebted, they have sold to those who had the money. “And that’s not all,” says the President of Fipe Toscana, “probably at least a third of the companies are destined to fail or close when aid and redundancy payments end”. The so-called “zombie companies” that wait with bated breath, do not reopen but do not even have the money to close. Many foreign but few Italian funds have appeared on the market, some even of dubious origin, with purely speculative operations not directed to the city. “The State should intervene to save at least the historic premises, strengths of tourism and at this time particularly vulnerable,” insists Cursano. Emblematic in Florence is the case of the historic coffee Giubbe Rosse taken over by the Kazakh entrepreneur Igor Bidilo, owner, through the company Sielna, also of the chain ‘Scudieri’ and bars and restaurants in Piazza del Campo in Siena and involved in an investigation for money laundering. ON THE RAZOR’S EDGE Something is undoubtedly happening. “Florence has suffered a lot,” admits Roberto di Pierno, general manager of the Valenza group that manages the historic cafes Paszkowski and Gilli and the Move on at the Duomo. “From mid-July we had large inflows but were understaffed and without the possibility of planning. Already since 2019, however, we had worked to engineer the working method avoiding the banality of tourist dishes with a search for ingredients. We focused on the relationship of trust with discounts and promotions for loyal customers. This has helped us with local clients, in the absence of foreigners. Gilli has activated home delivery and e-commerce also with foreign countries”. For now, the historical owner, the Valenza family, is holding out. “Let’s face the future with confidence, but not with recklessness: we rely on more flexible contracts, some employees have been lost on the way, we used the lockdown to reposition the strategic and productive part and do internal training on behaviour and attitudes. There is a desire to return as before but we know that it will not be easy: the inclusive