Jaunted

Italy Travel

Doing Time to Get Your Dinner

May 23, 2008 at 9:30 AM | 0 Comments

If you thought the security procedures for getting through an airport were rough, there's a restaurant in Italy that you haven't tried yet. The Fortezza Medicea high security prison serves up meals for guests, lovingly cooked by long-term prisoners.

It sounds like a crazy scheme but it's working out well. Several times a year, the "prison restaurant" is open to the public for a standard cost of €35 ($55) a head. Guests have to give enough details for a background check when they reserve their table, then on the night of, they have to hand in their bags and cell phones before going through a metal detector.

As well as helping prisoners develop skills that will assist them on their return to the real world, the restaurant raises money for a charity. It might be odd to have a murderer as a server, but isn't that better than having an "actor" or "singer" bring your meal out?

Related Stories:
· Top Marks to Italian Gourmet Jail [Reuters]
· Jail Tours coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Madolan]