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Fine diner prisoners serve more than time
Topic Started: Feb 15 2009, 12:41 PM (56 Views)
Warren
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Fine diner prisoners serve more than time

From correspondents in Tuscany

May 22, 2008 01:46am
Article from: Herald Sun

In what might be Italy's most exclusive restaurant, security is understandably tight.

On reservation, guests are subjected to a background check. They are admitted in groups, their mobile phones and bags confiscated, and they then submit to metal-detector tests.

At the candlelit tables the meal is eaten with plastic cutlery. But even though this is the Fortezza Medicea top-security prison, the white wine - Fattoria Sorbaiano - keeps flowing.

"The standard of the food is fantastic - the atmosphere, the people, and the place is incredible," said diner Sharon Kennedy, a resident of Volterra.

The inmates at the jail in the picturesque Tuscan town - surrounded by rolling green hills and brown-tiled villas - have swapped their uniforms for shirts and bow ties for a night.

Part of a project raising money for charity, the aim is also to teach cooking and waiting skills that could help the prisoners find work when they are released.

Surrounded by watch towers and security devices, the waiters smile and joke with guests, who number about 100, as they serve tuna tartare in citrus fruit rinds, pate with sweet wine and couscous with fish. Also on the menu: a tomato puree and carpaccio with salad leaves and parmesan. For dessert, a strawberry torte.

"It is not just a distraction, it is more than that," said Arena Aniello. Originally from Naples, he has been in jail since 1993 for homicide: tonight, he is a waiter.

"(Prison life) is like a photocopy machine - you leave your mobile, you go to work, you work out - the day is always the same, it becomes a habit. So this is a great thing."
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