Restaurant in Italy offers free bottles of wine to customers who hand in phones

An Italian restaurant is offering a free bottle of wine to customers who relinquish their mobile phones during meals.

Angelo Lella, the owner of Al Condominio, a restaurant that opened in the northern city of Verona in March, said the aim was to encourage diners chat to each other instead of constantly glancing at their phones.

Al Condominio is believed to be the first restaurant in the Veneto region to adopt such an initiative although there are examples of others in Italy, including Separè 1968, a restaurant in Marina di Cecina, Tuscany, which offers vouchers to customers who give up their phones.

People will be given the choice to set aside their phone, which will be placed in their own box, under lock and key, at the entrance. They then show the key to the waiter, who serves them their bottle of wine.

Customers can also write a review of their meal, which they leave in the box. Those who leave the most glowing review will be offered a meal on their next visit.

Needless to say, with the promise of free wine, the restaurant has done a roaring trade among those willing to partake in the mobile phone detox.

Read more via The Guardian