The authorities are investigating the death of a pizza maker who in recent days had been the protagonist of the public debate in Italy after confronting an alleged customer online who complained about having had to eat in her restaurant alongside homosexuals and disabled people, a gesture later exposed doubt.
The businesswoman, Giovanna Pedretti, 59, was found dead this Sunday in the river in her town, Sant’Angelo Lodigiano (north), where she managed the “Le Vignole” pizzeria.
Pedretti had attracted attention by posting on Facebook a screenshot of the opinion that a customer had supposedly left on Google about his establishment and the response of its owner.
“They made me eat next to some homosexuals, but I didn’t find out right away because they were quiet; And a boy in a wheelchair who ate with difficulty, I’m sorry but I didn’t feel comfortable. I’m sorry because the pizza It was excellent and the dessert was optimal, but I will not return,” wrote the supposed diner at “Le Vignole.”
To this, the pizza restaurant responded: “Dear customer, we appreciate your attempt to value our service through your opinion but, however, I wanted to make it clear to you that our establishment is open to everyone and the requirements we ask of our guests are education and respect”.
“Your words of contempt towards our customers, which I don’t think have bothered you, seem like gratuitous and unpleasant evil to me (…) That said, in the face of these human basenesses of terrible taste, I believe that our establishment is not for you. No “We choose our clients based on their sexual tastes and much less on their disability. I kindly ask you not to return, unless you find the human requirements that have been lacking in your attitude,” he reproached him.
Her words immediately sparked praise and even the Minister for Disabilities, Alessandra Locatelli, thanked the pizza maker for “reacting to discriminatory attitudes and pure evil.”
However, many began to suspect that the gesture could be false and the result of an attempt to promote his pizzeria.
To do this, they alleged that the opinion and the response had the same spelling errors, such as the lowercase letters after the periods, and because the font of the letter did not correspond to that used in Google.
In addition, Pedretti had published this conversation with the supposed client through a screenshot of it but the opinion was no longer available on Google.
The doubts only magnified the phenomenon and in recent days the owner had been interviewed by the country’s main media, although without ever clarifying the inconsistencies in her story.
Today it became known that Giovanna Pedretti had been interrogated at Police Headquarters, although without being charged with anything.
The woman’s body has been found in the waters of the Lambro River, where she arrived in her own car, and investigators are now trying to clarify what happened and the causes of her death, without ruling out suicide, according to local media.
