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Restaurants: now the dehors are the elephant in the room (closed)
Restaurants: now the dehors are the elephant in the room (closed)

Video: Restaurants: now the dehors are the elephant in the room (closed)

Video: Restaurants: now the dehors are the elephant in the room (closed)
Video: The Elephants that came to dinner 🐘🐘🐘 | Mfuwe Lodge, Zambia 2024, March
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Who would have thought that we would have found ourselves negotiating the dismantling of the dehors in late summer as a serious business. The outdoor tables in every square and on every sidewalk have saved many restaurants from the worst of prospects, in some cases they have even reversed the situation, adding on the whole several covers to those available before the pandemic, and despite the distancing.

It was the most obvious solution, the most immediate answer to the problem of the reopening of restaurants in the era of Covid, in which closed and confined spaces are strongly contraindicated: taking out the shack and puppets.

The administrations have understood this, which have granted unprecedented facilities and freedom on the occupation of public land, and the restaurateurs have understood it, who more or less quickly have equipped themselves to transfer the transfer to every square centimeter of free space, provided that open air, where the Coronavirus can flutter without forming a fantozzian cloud above the tables of the diners.

And in the end it was also a beautiful summer, with the outdoor areas sprouting like mushrooms in the cities and becoming meeting places, giving any urban center that air a bit of a seaside tourist resort. And people went back to the restaurant more willingly and more peacefully, knowing they could sit outside.

Summer is ending, the palliative terrace is going away

Now, however, with the end of the summer a problem arises, and it is useless for us to pretend not to see the elephant that is placed in the middle of the room. Closed room in which, however, many of us do not want to eat. Despite the carefully adopted measures, it must be said by most Italian restaurants.

With a typically Italian mood, it seems that attempts are being made to postpone the concern related to the impossibility of using the outdoor areas in winter, and perhaps even in autumn, and the consequent decrease in seats that the restaurants will suffer. "We will cross the bridge when we come to it", say the British, but we are better at putting into practice the philosophy of dismissing decisions, however inevitable. On the other hand, we are the masters of getting by, and in some way we will do it again. However, someone should really start asking the problem, which is not only Italian.

Just to give you an example, just look at what's happening to New York where, in the face of an extremely more limiting regulation (until now you could only eat outside, and it is news a few days ago that from 30 September guests will be able to accommodate guests also inside, but only at 25% of the normal capacity), restaurateurs in recent weeks have clamored for solutions to face a season that promises to be more than difficult. Here, on the other hand, there is still little talk about it. Everyone's hope is that - after a spring closed in the house and a rather rainy summer - of a mild autumn, which in recent years has given beautiful evenings for several months. But the elephant is still there in the room, and when it decides to move there is a risk that it will cause a real disaster.

Will we close the outdoor areas or will we talk about it again in November?

In recent weeks, many have emphasized how much the outdoor area has made cities more beautiful, and even safer, such as happens in Bergamo, where the Gori administration also highlights this positive aspect linked to the extension of the habit of eating outdoors. But few have asked themselves the question of what will happen when it is no longer the season of tables on the street.

The solution is certainly not simple, and the first hypotheses that come forward are to facilitate the introduction of closing systems for outdoor furniture. TO Pistoia, for example: the Fipe-Confcommercio asks loudly, speaking of "survival at risk for many restaurants and clubs" that will not be able "to face the winter season".

Some cities, like Genoa or Ancona, have already given a partial ok: in the Ligurian capital the free access for the extension and the new installations of outdoor areas have been extended until June 2021, and also in Ancona the mayor Valeria Mancinelli has ensured that the extension to winter of the permits for the dehors it will arrive in days.

Yet, there are still some knots to be solved: how to manage the capacity of dehors indoors, which will become on balance the extensions of the premises? And how to allow restaurateurs to amortize the costs of covered fixed structures, certainly more expensive than a few tables surmounted by an umbrella? It is time to talk about it, because over there on the horizon you begin to glimpse some rain clouds, and the worry is that the elephant is afraid of thunder and escapes from the room destroying everything in its path.

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