The following story has nothing to do with books but I thought we all needed a break from the A&R soap opera!!

Venice charges rude tourists extra
By Malcolm Moore

Tourists who do not want to be ripped off in Venice were advised yesterday to drop their brutish behaviour and try to learn a bit of the local lingo.

Many restaurants in Venice now operate multiple price lists
A "significant proportion" of the city's bars and restaurants are now operating two or even three price lists: one for tourists, another for locals, and a third for "sympathetic" tourists who make more effort than the usual grunted demands."There are different pricing levels," said Franco Conte, the head of the Venetian branch of Codacons, the Italian consumer rights group.


"If you are Italian, a croissant and a cappuccino costs €3.50 (£2.40)," he said. "If you speak another language, it costs €7.

"In restaurants, a pizza and a drink for two people costs between €20 to €25 for locals, perhaps cheaper for Venetians - but €50 to €60 if you are forestieri." In Italy, the word forestieri applies to all strangers, who are said to be "from the forest".
Maria Tosi, who runs a tobacconist, said tourists could do simple things to try to get a better price such as saying hello when entering a shop or restaurant, or learning a few words of Venetian dialect.



For the full story from London's Telegraph Online click here.
If you are fortunate enough to be going to this most magical of cities in the next 12 months then this story is a must-read.