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AUG. SEP. 2021 IV customer, despite everything, does not exist”. THE BITTERNESS OF THOSE WHO LEAVE Instead, Alfonso Tortora, who spent a lifetime in fashion before opening Galleria Coffee & Lounge Bar (also in Florence) in 2016, had to close. “I took care of every single customer; I believe that only this will save us from what is happening”. Overwhelmed by the economic situation generated by the pandemic, unable to work, with the inability to plan and only uncertainty for the future, Tortora handed back the keys. “There remains a great tiredness and bitterness for having to leave a project in which I had put all of myself.” How do you see Florence? “It has always thought of the foreign tourist and little of the Florentine, always used to large numbers regardless. It deserves it a little. I hope that at least the panorama will change. Only beauty will save us: I’ve believed in it and I’ll always believe in it. However, I see a future in which large financial groups will arrive, just look at what has happened in fashion, and there will be a massification, foreigners will arrive, situations that are not ours. Tradition and sensitivity cannot be invented in five minutes”. In Venice a former restaurateur, who asks to remain anonymous, vents: “After 26 years of work I had to close, now I’m an employee and happy. I’ve been targeted by the Nas, by the tax authorities, it’s always us Italians, who have families and property who are subjected to controls. Now I finally sleep peacefully, the bitterness of having had to stop the work of a lifetime remains, but also the dignity and satisfaction of not having left debts”. IN ROME “A BLEAK PICTURE” “In Rome the picture is bleak,” begins Luciano Sbraga, deputy general manager Fipe and director of the Study Centre. “The historic centre, a relevant part for concentration of activities, is still quite still, there is a lack of residents and tourists.” The restaurant industry, he tells us, lost 2 billion euros in 2020, 40% less turnover than in 2019. In 2021 it will not recover: in the first four months foreign presences in Italy went from 43 to 2 million, a 94% drop. “The cities of art without the recovery of international tourism will not be able to hold up, especially in historic centres also weakened by smart working.” Is shopping for foreign groups taking place? “It’s necessary to distinguish: restaurant activities are one thing, real estate is another. The former are very much linked to those who manage them, acquiring them does not guarantee you customers, it’s not a safe investment, the fund has no interest in acquiring them. This, however, lends itself to a much riskier purchase and sale of unclean capital, but it happens on real estate, not so much on assets. The real risk is closure, new scenarios open up. This winter will be crucial to understand what will happen in the sector”. FIPE is aiming at the green pass for the autumn to avoid new closures, which would definitely bring the sector to its knees. Venice between sell-offs and generational handovers “Certainly, the historic centre is suffering, we are 50% down on the entire municipality. Excellent closures? Rather it has accentuated the generational transition, you leave the business to children and grandchildren, and, after two years of stop- start closures, those who were thinking of giving up do so, “says Ernesto Pancin, Director Aepe, Association of Exercising Public, Confcommercio Fipe. Who’s buying? “Those with money, mostly foreigners. Where are they coming from? We are not the ones who can do controls in this sense. The greatest disaster in this world of ours is globalization, which has killed small businessmen.” How do you see the future of Venice? “Of course, there will be an adjustment but basically nothing will change, it will wait for customers to come back. So far, tourism has been the easiest sector, but more can be done. And also politics in the last 30 years has not been at its best”. A DIFFERENT ITALY? Cursano concludes: “After the pandemic we will find an economic fabric very different from what we were used to. The offer and service will change, to which the ‘costliness’ of our model is linked. It’s not by chance that fast food is winning in this world. A type of restaurant will be born that will consider the new needs, the very small and overcrowded restaurants will close because there will be a need for space for safety issues, real or perceived. The proposal and menus, furnishings and mise en place will be reorganized. Cities will change, there will be an urban regeneration, the choice of where to go to eat will follow new logics. It’s a moment of re-founding and re-thinking, the banalization of food that we had reached with too many places, too much offer and so much improvisation is no longer valid, we will go out less but spend more”. The future belongs to those who can meet these needs. ______________________________ BOX Venice Florence and Rome, the closures “The numbers pertain to the province but can be referred 80-85% to the capital,” says Sbraga. ______________________________ AT PAGE 14 IN DEPTH Where did the catering and tourism staff go? The pandemic has caused many job losses but, despite the recovery, the Ho.Re.Ca. sector is suffering from staff shortages. The causes? From the uncertainty about the future, to the desire not to give up the support provided, not to mention the fact that many have decided to invest in other professions. A complex situation that risks increasing undeclared work. by Maddalena Baldini Since the beginning of summer 2021, the buzzwords on the job front have been tourism and catering. In fact, even when analysing the main job platforms, the greatest demand has been concentrated on these two closely related fields. What is literally jolting are the figures: + 97%, from April to June 2021, compared to MAGAZINE