Supporting Arts Over Greed: My Stand Against Hard Capitalism

I am currently on a solo trip in Calabria. A beautiful Italian medieval village very close to the crystal-clear Ionian Sea. Everything looks like a fairy tale. My Airbnb is fairly priced for what it is, no argument there. However, my experience with Italian cuisine has been a little bit of an issue.

After multiple occasions where business owners made me feel like a walking dollar sign, I decided I had enough. The region struggles financially and relies heavily on tourism. This is why I was surprised by how hostile some places are. Maybe it’s only because I do not speak Italian.

On top of that, I get charged prices that seem to be made up on the spot with a huge profit margin. Restaurant menus don’t exist, and prices are not displayed anywhere.

I saw a photo on Facebook promoting the Friday event at one of the restaurants. It included a menu of 4 courses, wine and live music. Nowhere does it show the price. People were asking in the comments “What’s the price please?”. The answer they got was: “Please email or call us and we will tell you.”

Why would you hide your price unless you want to charge different people different amounts? I don’t know. Anyway, someone in the comments got very irritated (it wasn’t me) and called out the restaurant owner saying the promotion doesn’t make sense if you don’t tell us the price.

The event happened and after every song from the live band, I heard 4 people clapping. I…