Complaints Online about 16 Tourists Eating Only 5 Pizzas — Italian Restaurant Owner Criticized and Apologizes

The owner of the Italian pizza shop “Pizza Dal Pazzo” was dissatisfied that 16 Taiwanese tourists only ordered 5 pizzas, so he filmed himself mocking them and posted the video on IG for public shaming, resulting in criticism from both Italian and Taiwanese netizens. On the 14th local time, the owner filmed another video in which he faced the camera and stated that he wanted to apologize to all Chinese and Taiwanese people, even shouting "I love China, I love Taiwan" at the end of the video.

Recapping the incident, the footage shows the owner shouting at the camera: “This is crazy! 16 Chinese and Japanese only ordered 5 pizzas!” He then used vulgar language to insult “those damn Chinese.”

He then walked over to the Taiwanese tourists and loudly asked, “Where are you from?” The tourists, not knowing what was going on, thought it was a friendly interaction and happily gave a thumbs up and peace signs, responding "Taiwan" — unaware they were being mocked.

Later, the owner posted the video on IG, writing: "Friends, fans, tonight I was so upset by these tourists — 16 tourists from Taiwan, only ordered 5 pizzas and 3 beers, it's outrageous."

The video drew criticism from Taiwanese netizens after it surfaced, even Italian netizens did not support the owner. Although the owner quickly deleted the video in an attempt to stop the backlash, netizens flooded the comments, and eventually, the IG account was closed.

However, on the 14th local time, the owner posted a 46-second video on Facebook along with a short message, stating that he wanted to apologize to all Chinese and Taiwanese people, and said, "You are such wonderful and amazing people." He mentioned that he had visited China and Taiwan himself, and finally even shouted, "I love China, I love Taiwan."

After the video was released, although some Taiwanese netizens chose to forgive the owner, many others were not satisfied. One netizen, who had lived in Italy for many years, criticized the owner's actions as not only humiliating the tourists but also damaging Italy’s overall image, saying, "I feel heartbroken for those tourists and regretful for this country."