Restaurants, 6 out of 10 Italians dining out on weekends

In the first weekend of the easing of anti-Covid measures, with the total reopening of the premises, more and more Italians are choosing to dine at the restaurant. According to an analysis by Coldiretti on Fipe data, more than six out of ten Italians (62.5%) are looking for a place at the table for dinner in restaurants, trattorias, pizzerias and farmhouses, thanks to the reopening of the 360,000 catering services in Italy both outdoors and indoors where there are restrictions on seating for a single table. An opportunity, underlines Coldiretti, especially for the 9 million Italians who took the opportunity of the Republic Day on June 2 for a short holiday but also for those who take advantage of it for a day trip out to the sea, in the mountains or in the countryside where there is a boom in bookings in the 24 thousand national farmhouses that can guarantee large open spaces even for large tables.The reopenings represent above all, Coldiretti underlines, an important breath of fresh air for the catering activities that are classified among those hardest hit by the restrictive measures that have caused an unprecedented crack for the restaurant industry that in the last year has almost halved the turnover (-48%) for a total loss of almost 41 billion euros, according to Coldiretti estimates on Ismea data. The small niche productions that have been kept throughout the peninsula for generations by farmers whose survival is determined precisely by the recovery of tourism and catering are also benefiting from the reopening. It is a treasure of 5,266 traditional food products unique in the world linked to the history and economy of the territories, which – concludes Coldiretti – are the symbol of the great creativity, tradition, quality and safety at the base of the success of Made in Italy in the world.