This couple fled Italy the day after they got married and have not paid the owner of the venue a huge outstanding bill (Picture: Facebook)
A seafood restaurant was abandoned with a £7,000 bill after a newly married couple did a runner.
Owner Enzo Fabrizi had taken care of everything for Moreno Priorietti and Andrae Svenja, and their party of 80 guests.
From the lavish dining experience of high quality food, right through to the music, flowers and decorations, the couple enjoyed the full works at Ristorante La Rotonda.
However when Mr Fabrizi went to settle up with the bride and groom, he was stunned to find that they had not only left the town of Boville Ernica in Italy, but had in-fact fled the country altogether.
It’s now been more than a year since the couple pulled off the most audacious dine and dash imaginable but the restaurateur has not given up on recouping the hefty sum of cash.
He said if he doesn’t receive the unpaid bill, it could put him out of business and his lawyer Lugi Tozzi has been forced to file a formal complaint with the local police for fraud.
‘I will not give him peace until he has paid every penny,’ said Mr Fabrizi. ‘I’ve been a restaurateur for 40 years and I’ve never had this happen to me.’
Moreno Priorietti, left, and Andrae Svenja, right, pictured together on their wedding day at Ristorante La Rotonda (Picture: Facebook)
Lavish dine and dash
Seven months before their big day in August 2022, Mr Priorietti and Ms Svenja were introduced to Mr Fabrizi and shown the venue, on recommendation from the owner’s trusted friend of 20 years who knew the couple, reports Corriere Della Sera.
They visited, along with the groom’s parents, to try out the different menus on offer before agreeing to go ahead with the fish menu for their wedding day.
Before tying the knot, the couple paid a £2,850 deposit and had agreed to settle the outstanding £4,750 bill by a deadline of the Wednesday following the ceremony.
‘I approached him [Mr Priorietti] and let him into my office,’ explained Mr Fabrizi. ‘We did the calculations and he shook my hand and told me he would come by the next day to pay.’
After enjoying the perfect day in the beautiful Italian hills – in which around ten guests including the bride’s father had travelled from Germany to celebrate – Mr Fabrizi saw no reason why they would refuse to pay.
The lavish ceremony was held at the stunning Ristorante La Rotonda in the hills of Boville Ernica in Italy (Picture: Facebook)
‘The entire ceremony took place here,’ he said. ‘They had me furnish a sort of altar for a priest who came from Germany.
‘But the civil ceremony was celebrated by the pool and immediately afterwards the guests – almost all from Ferentino and about ten Germans – sat down at the table and lunch began.
‘They ate, danced and drank to their heart’s content. They left at 10pm, but they were almost all drunk.’
When Wednesday came, the newlyweds were nowhere to be found and despite waiting for Mr Priorietti to arrive and making multiple phone calls to both him and his wife, Mr Fabrizi was ignored.
He tracked down the groom’s parents but they also did not respond and he even went to Mr Priorietti’s local address, where he discovered that no one had heard from the couple since the day after the wedding, reports MailOnline.
The couple enjoyed a luxury dining experience with 80 guests at the venue (Picture: Facebook)
Restaurant owner Enzo Fabrizi says he has tried to contact the couple but they have ignored him ever since the wedding day (Picture: Ansa)
‘They only paid me the deposit and disappeared,’ said Mr Fabrizi. ‘The next day, he took the plane to Germany.
‘And to think that I thought of everything: flowers, music, SIAE [a licence fee for weddings in Italy]. The decoration alone cost me £345. And to think that he told me that he would also tip the waiters.’
Mr Fabrizi says he was told that the runaway couple had driven to Rome and then flown to Frankfurt after the party – the only other thing he knows is that the groom ‘lived in Ferentino’ and ‘works at a body shop in Ceccano’.
Despite their blatant disregard for the money they owe, Mr Fabrizi said his lawyer ‘will take care of it’ and said: ‘I have the written contract in my hand, signed by the groom.’
Mr Fabrizi pictured here with his lawyer Lugi Tozzi, who is now pursuing legal action against the runaway couple (Picture: Ansa)
Mr Fabrizi says losing such a huge sum of money could put him out of business (Picture: Facebook)
Lawyer Mr Tozzi told MailOnline: ‘The matter is now in their hands, and it would be in the best interests of the couple to hand themselves in to the authorities or better still pay the outstanding debt.
‘My client is prepared to drop the action once the bill is settled and therefore avoid any protracted legal action.’
Mr Fabrizi added: ‘We had correspondence with them until a few weeks ago and they kept saying they would pay but then no money arrived.
‘After a while the requests we sent them to settle the bill were unanswered and then I noticed they had both deleted their profiles from Facebook.
‘For a small place like mine £7,000 is a considerable amount of money and I need to have this bill settled as I have suppliers to pay and other overheads.’
According to local reports, police are investigating the whereabouts of the couple, and Mr Priorietti is wanted for fraudulent insolvency.
It’s not quite on the same scale, but last month, a group of 15 diners were caught on CCTV walking out of a fish and chip restaurant without paying their £200 bill.
A family were also captured ‘doing a runner’ on a £215 restaurant bill after pretending to go for a smoke in June.
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