Italy's Supreme Court Says Hotels May Refuse Tap Water
The court said Italian law leaves tap water service to individual venues and rejected a tourist’s €2,700 compensation claim.
- Italy's highest court ruled Wednesday that five-star Hotel Sassongher in the Dolomites acted lawfully refusing tap water, with the Court of Cassation finding Italian law does not oblige restaurants or hotels to serve it.
- During her late 2019 stay at the Dolomites hotel, a tourist on a half-board package repeatedly requested tap water but staff provided 0.75-litre bottles of mineral water costing €7 each night, even after she offered to pay for it.
- Seeking €2,700 in compensation, the woman argued that "water is a natural resource and a universal human right" and claimed consumer rights were violated, likening free tap water to basic hotel services such as "finding a bed with sheets" and "soap in the bathroom."
- Judges determined individual Italian venues retain the right to decide whether serving tap water is necessary, denying the tourist's €2,700 claim. Hotel Sassongher stated Wednesday it "fully respects the decision of the Supreme Court" but declined further comment.
- Spain's 2022 law compels bars and restaurants to offer free unpackaged water, while England, Wales and France mandate tap water service, contrasting sharply with Italy's lack of legal obligation. No EU-wide law forces all member states to provide it.
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56 Articles
Why tap water tastes so different on holiday - and where you should buy bottled
This is Everyday Science with Clare Wilson, a subscriber-only newsletter from The i Paper. If you’d like to get this direct to your inbox every week, you can sign up here. Hello, and welcome back to Everyday Science. I’m currently planning what supplies to take on a family holiday, and the question came up of whether the tap water is OK where we’ll be going – a French island. I reassured my children that the water will absolutely be safe to drin…
Woman sued a hotel in Italy that refused to provide a glass of tap water. However, the action was rejected. Supreme Court confirmed that there is no obligation to serve it.
The tourist initiated legal proceedings and demanded 2,700 euros in compensation for alleged economic damage and mental anguish.
A five-star hotel in Italy that repeatedly refused to serve a guest tap water in its restaurant did not break any law, the country's highest court has ruled. The woman sued after hotel staff said they would only serve her bottled water during a stay in late 2019, according to a court ruling seen by CNN. She had argued that access to water was a fundamental right, the Telegraph reports. However, the Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the decisi…
Italy's Supreme Court has ruled that a five-star hotel in the Dolomites acted legally when it refused to serve a female tourist tap water.
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