Venice Bar Uses Discount to Lure 'Poor Yanks' (Harry's Bar - Ernst Hemingway Haunt)
April 08, 2008
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Venice Bar Uses Discount to Lure 'Poor Yanks'
– Harry's Bar in Venice has offered hospitality to tourists and expatriates since the days of Ernest Hemingway. But in recent months Harry's has noticed a sharp drop in the number of Americans showing up at the home of the Bellini cocktail. So restaurant owner Arrigo Cipriani has a novel solution: a 20% discount to subprime-stricken Americans for everything on the menu. The discount will last as long as the weak dollar keeps Americans away from the classic Venice establishment, Cipriani told Reuters. US citizens won't need to bring their passports—"We will judge by the accent," he said. If other Anglophones manage to fool the bartender, they'll get the discount as well, he added. Indeed, Cipriani knows something about deception: he was convicted of tax fraud last year.
FYI - I had a dinner and Bellini at Harrys in 04. Harry's is a 1920 style dinner, Ernest Hemingway used to have his own table in one corner of Harry's Bar. Immediately following World War II, Hemingway dedicated to the bar a page of his famous novel "Across the River and into the Trees.".
Venice is a one of a kind place and a "must see", but nothing is cheap in Venice or at Harrys, even with the discount. It is sad to see most Americans will not be able to afford to go there. Especially, the younger generation, which will likely be burden with trying to pay for the "baby boomer's" wars, Medicare, Social Security etc.... At least they have the internet and can look at the pictures....
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