GRAND VOYAGE ITALY
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒
We're All About Italy

Only in Italy: Fine Wines Kidnapped and Held for Ransom

3/20/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
This Wednesday, after a "10 month, exhaustive investigation", Sicilian police arrested three men for stealing 230 bottles of rare vintages of fine wines worth nearly $50,000 from Ristorante Tiramisù in Taormina. Prices per bottle ranged from $200 to over $1000 each. With restaurant mark-ups, the value of the wine could have reached well over $100,000. The professional thieves managed to get past a sophisticated alarm system complete with video surveillance cameras. 

But these weren't wine connoisseurs that did the deed. They didn't want to add the bottles to their own wine cellars or to drink the stuff themselves. They were holding the bottles for ransom--to the tune of about $16,000 for their safe return... otherwise, the bottles would go to an early grave.

The bottles were returned to their home in the cellars of Tiramisù, but there was no word on how they are holding up after their terrifying ordeal, or if their ten-month captivity affected their nose, flavors or colors. There was one report that one of the former captives--after having been opened--showed notes of strawberry, new-mown hay, aged oak and a surprising hint of rusted Tre Ruote, formaldehyde and woolen ski mask....

--Jerry Finzi

Food Crime on the Rise in Italy:

A spike in cheese theft saw robbers make off with an estimated €6 million worth of Italy's prized Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese between 2014 and 2016. The combination of high value - one 40kg wheel is typically worth €500 - and small, rural producers which aren't equipped with anti-theft seasons makes the cheese warehouses an irresistible target. 

Two years ago, Ligurian police foiled an attempted heist of 29kg of Nutella, the popular chocolatey hazelnut spread, which the thieves reportedly planned to sell on the black market.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.


    Categories

    All
    1 Making Plans
    2 Gear And Tips
    3 Getting Around
    4 Tuscany
    5 Amalfi Coast
    6 Basilicata
    7 Puglia
    8 Rome
    9 Postcards
    Fotos Di Finzi
    History For Italians
    Humor
    La Cucina & Recipes
    More Than Gelato Pizza
    More-than-gelato-pizza
    News Del Giiorno
    Off The Tourist Path

    Archive

    January 2021
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    August 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014

    RSS Feed

Copyright 2014 - 2022 by GrandVoyageItaly.com
Picture
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒