An Italian restaurant has sparked fury after a group of holidaymakers spotted a surprise fee on their bill for background music.
The group had stopped for drinks and snacks in Ostuni, a picturesque town in the Apulian region of southern Italy, on August 17.
But when the bill arrived, it wasn’t just the cocktails and appetisers they were paying for.
The receipt showed €20 (£17) for appetisers, €5 (£4) for a peach juice, €10 (£8) for a non-alcoholic cocktail and €15 (£13) for two alcoholic cocktails.
But what really caught their eye was an extra €8 (£7) under ‘music’. That worked out at €2 (£1.70) per person.
The bar had a DJ playing background tracks, but the customers said they had no idea they would be billed for it.
They told local media: ‘The music was very good, but no one expected to be charged for the background music.’
After the receipt surfaced online, social media users debated whether it was fair.
Some compared it to Italy’s traditional ‘coperto’ table charge, where a fixed fee is charged for everything from table linen to cutlery.
Others slammed the practice and argued the cost should be built into menu prices.
The row comes as another tourist in Italy was billed 45p for a grind of pepper.
The holidaymaker told the La Repubblica newspaper that they asked for a small pinch of pepper when they ordered a pizza in Bari.
Although that comes free of charge in many restaurants, he was shocked when he got the bill and realised he had been charged.
He posted his bill online, prompting a barrage of comments of people sharing their outrage.
One person said: ‘So, from now on, I’ll bring my own pepper to save the extra charge.’
Other people also shared their own encounters of being charged for extras at a restaurant.
One woman said she was charged €1.50 for an ingredient she did not eat while holidaying in the south of Italy.
But Italy doesn’t appear to be the only country where surchages have left people in disbelief.
In August, a social media user posted her bill showing that she was charged €12 (£10.39) just for hanging her handbag on a table hook in Ibiza.
Explaining what happened, she said: ‘The waitress kindly offered to let us hang our handbags on a small hook at the table.
‘We declined. But since the waitress insisted, we finally gave her the bags. The surprise came when we saw the bill.’
